Israel: June 12, 2003

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The basic problem remains. As long as a majority of Palestinians support the tactics of the Palestinian terrorists, there can be no peace. Israel, being a democracy, will have its leaders under constant pressure to fight the terrorists in order to reduce the number of attacks. In the past century, situations like this have tended to go on for about a generation, at which point the weaker side (in this case, the Palestinians) collectively decides that violence won't work (for the moment, anyway) and a peace deal can be worked out (after the terrorists are suppressed with Palestinian help.) However, looking at the history of the Middle East, you will note that few grievances go unremembered, especially when they involve real estate and culture. So 10-20 years after the "2015 Peace Deal," Palestinian terrorists will probably be at it  again. This sort of cycle is working itself out in Lebanon, where 15 years of  civil war (sparked by religious and political differences) ended in 1990 when everyone got tired of it. But now the old animosities are warming up again, and the talk is turning to using force to settle ancient grievances.

 

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