I know that I am about to touch a lightening rod here, and hope to get some different views on the matter. However, it seems to me that there is no case for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or whoever else is perpetrating attacks on Israel, even against the Israeli military.
There are two different versions of the history of that land, and who has rightful claim to it. Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that we completely accept the Paletinians' version of history. That is to say: the land belonged to the Palestinians and, after the holocaust in other parts of Europe in WWII, a forcible relocation took place. This relocation allowed the Jews to return to their biblical "homeland", using the 1948 and 1967 "zionist" wars to displace the Palestinians and take the land.
O.K., so how is that morally different than what happened to the Native Americans in North and South America, the Aboriginis of Australia, the Mauris of New Zealand, the Lapps of Scandanavia and so on?
The fact is that no piece of land has been continuously inhabited by its original inhabitants from the beginning of time to the present. Everyone has been displaced and is now occupied. What those other groups that I have mentioned above have done is, they have decided not to use terrorist or war tactics against their "occupiers", even though one could make a case that they have a right to. They realize that we need to move into the future, work within a non violent system to improve things in conjunction with "occupiers". I am not downplaying the suffering of these other groups at all. I am simply pointing out that they have chosen to deal with the situation differently than the Palestinians. Their lives, not to mention everyone else's, have been much better off as a result. (Some Native tribes are even getting rich now off the casinos that they alone can run. I say "more power to them").
It is simply not realistic to expect land to stay in the hands of its "rightful" or "original" inhabitants for ever and ever. People shouldn't forget the past, but they shouldn't allow the past to condemn them to ideologies which will result in a never ending cycle of violence.
Like I say, I know I've touched a lightening rod. But to those of you who will take the Palestinians' side, let me ask you, would you think it wrong if a Native American bombed a supermarket or restaurant or hotel, killing one of your relatives here in America? If so, why would it be wrong?
Again, just some thoughts that came to mind, wanted to share them and welcome other opinions. (For the record, my ancestry is not from Isreal or Palestine and I am not Jewish or Muslim.)