In the first intifada, the resistance was largely nonviolent, involving strikes and civil disobedience. What followed was Oslo, a joke. While the "peace process" was under way, settlement building continued unabated. And at the end, what was offered was not a state, but a facade of a state. Barak's "generous offer" was, in reality, limited control of a little over eighty percent of the West Bank, with no control over airspace, water or borders within the West Bank. And a suburb of East Jerusalem as the capital. Oslo improved nothing. It was a charade to maintain the status quo, continued theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank. Israel is not defending her existence. Israel is trying to take most of the West Bank and to continue to put a stranglehold on the rest. It is conquest of land, plain and simple. Israel has one of the most powerful and sophisticated militaries in the world and the complete backing of the U.S., as well as nuclear weapons. If all Israel was doing was disengaging and seperating, there would not be a problem. Let them build their wall on their border, the Green Line. Fine. That is not what is happening. Large areas of the West Bank are being grabbed by Israel, through this wall and are cutting people off from their families, their fields, their livelihoods, breeding more resentment and rage.
Palestinians can and do work for peace with Israelis every day. Those who are killed as "collaborators" are those who are thought to have worked with the Israeli military, not those who work with peace groups. We have executed so called traitors in this country and most people would consider this fine. I don't, I am just pointing out that it is not unique to Palestinians. ( Rabin was killed by a Jewish extremist ) It is actually inevitable in such a fractured and destroyed society, where there is virtually no law, other than the Israeli occupiers, who did not help matters when they deliberately destroyed the government offices and all other infrastucture in the West Bank close to a year ago. The PA is no longer holding power. Israel holds all the cards.
The reality is, that the majority of Palestinians would accept a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with peaceful relations with Israel. All Israel would have to do is pull out all illegal settlements and return to the Green Line. Then Israel could much more easily defend it's people, because they would not be living scattered about in the West Bank. International peacekeepers and observers could come in, as Palestinians and some Israelis have called for, to keep the sides working peacefully, as the transition occurred. As for right of return, refugees who want to return, could move into the new Palestinian state and for those who could not, compensation for their loss, could be negotiated. This may not eliminate violence altogether, because their is much hatred and racism between the two groups, but there is also a shared history of working together. And as life becomes more liveable on both sides, the acceptance of the use of violence will diminish and be edged out. As for neighboring Arab states, some already have full peaceful relations with Israel and all the Arab nations have agreed to the same, if Israel simply pulls out of the West Bank and Gaza. (this with no right of return) Israel refused this proposal. Israel needs to stop trying to take the land in the West Bank and Gaza and compromise. They cannot have it all. They must learn to share and to treat Palestinians like human beings, instead of collectively punishing the whole population. Until Israel ceases to relentlessly pursue a policy of conquest, with no concern to the loss of life, there will be no peace.