When I ask friends of mine what precise alternative they propose to Israel's strategy in responding to rocket attacks on its citizens, they tell me that it is pointless to fire-fight; instead we must address the underlying causes of the conflict.
Fine.
The underlying cause of the problems between the Israelis and the Arabs is that many Arabs regard Israel as a colonial state made up of European immigrants who ought to "go home". Their attitude to Jews is fairly similar to the attitude of Zanu PF members to white farmers.
There are two plausible ways to address this:
a) Evacuate Israel of all the Jews (say, to Arizona or some other part of the US - I believe this is the preferred solution of Arab radicals).
b) Persuade the Arabs, and in particular the Palestinians, to accept the existence of the state of Israel as a fait accompli (flawed in nature and arising through historical injustice though it may be) and that they should look to future prospering instead of vengance for past wrongs, aiming for peaceful and productive coexistence with Israel.
Do you prefer solution (a) or (b)?
