Quote Originally Posted by Plastic-Saint

"But of course the problem in the Middle East is Israel is an ostracized member of the neighborhood. What the Middle East needs is more capitalism and less fanaticism, imo."

Really, that is the problem. I agree. If the rest of the Middle East would get over having jews in "their" region and everyone would start exchanging goods and ideals we could see some sort of peace... but the fanatics show no sign of dampening their fervor any time soon, unfortunately.
If Israel would stop treating most of its Arab population as a conquered people, subjecting them to an oppressive military presence, restricting their movements, denying them any democratic voice in the state that rules them and kicking them out of their homes to make way for expanding settlements, it might be a whole lot easier for people in the region to accept Israel's presence. Israel's own treatment of its Palestinian population has fuelled resentment and hostility towards it. The images of death and destruction in Lebanon only add to this - regardless of who started it or whether the campaign is justified or not.

When I was younger and first started to learn about the Middle East, my sympathies were overwhelmingly with Israel. However as I started to learn more about Israel's behaviour in the West Bank and Gaza and particularly the impact of settlement activity on Palestinian life my views changed completely. While most Americans hear very little if anything about this, everyone in the Middle East knows about it. The unresolved Palestinian-Israeli conflict is what keeps all of this going and provides the fanatics with just the reports and images they need to help spread their ideologies.