[The Lone Ranger]

One of my colleagues is Jewish, and lived in Israel for a time.

In most areas, she's quite liberal-minded, but a few days ago, while we were discussing this and that, she blurted out that she's sick of people acting like Israel is the "bad guy" when it comes to Israeli/Palestinian relations.


"I lived in Israel," she pointed out. "I know firsthand how much the Palestinians hate Jews, and the lengths they'll go in order to hurt us." Basically, her claim was that the Israelis have, by and large, bent over backwards to be decent to the Palestinians, only to be repaid with hatred and bloodshed.



Well, I'm hardly an expert, so I didn't pursue the discussion. It's not like I've lived in the area, either.

Still, I couldn't help but wonder: "Don't you think the Palestinians have a right to feel aggrieved? I mean, here they were, minding their own business, when suddenly they're thrown off their own land and forced to live as second-class citizens, if that. It seems to me that there are plenty of reasons other than anti-Semitism to explain why the Palestinians, by and large, aren't big fans of Israel."


Like I said, I'm hardly an expert. So what am I missing here?