What I find extremely sick about this all, being Jewish, is that Jews and the Palestinian/Arabic/Muslim community peacefully co-existed for thousands of years, especially in Moorish Spain, North Africa, and throughout the rest of the world there.
This is propaganda spread on both sides, especially by extremists from the Jewish community, whom I denounce. Please don't view these people as being Jewish in any sense of the word. They may look and act like Jews, and even go to services as well, however they are not Jews. We're not taught to outright abuse people like that. This behavior reminds me more of the Hitler Youth than of Jews.
I'm not absolving the Muslim community with a broad brushstroke either. Right now, however, I view the Palestinian community as mere pawns in a game dominated by Hafez Assad, Saddam Hussein, Hashemi Rafsenjani, and the Arab League, because of the fact that the Arab leaders care more about their political ambitions than the Koran.
Well, there is that issue of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as well
. Those flames have been there for 2,000 years!
Most wars are fought over access to warm-water ports. If you look at most of the Arab world, it's landlocked. The state of Israel straddles a major strategic route between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean that reduces shipping costs. Whoever controls that strip of land can control a major portion of commerce into the Arab world because of the port control and access to potential key distribution routes for Iraq, Syria, and several other countries from the Mediterranean. Israel isn't also a complete wreck of a country like Lebanon has been since the 70's.
Why do you think the Soviets invaded Afghanistan? It was to get access to Pakistan eventually, and from there have a quicker warm-water route for their ships. If they would have made it to Pakistan, there would have been serious issues with China, but that's a world war waiting to happen in itself
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While there is religion involved, there is also the complete issue of economics as well. Israel, unlike most of the other countries in that area, has a very well-developed infrastructure that the Arab world covets, as well as several well-developed port cities.
IMHO, the war over the temple ruins is a mask for the real intentions of the Arab world, which are to eventually take over Israel and absorb the most sophisticated infrastructure in the region outside Saudi Arabia and Kuwait into the extremist Arab bloc, which is over 20 years behind the times (especially Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan) due to the fact that the Western world doesn't like them, and doesn't sink infrastructure money too much into rogue states such as Iraq or Syria.
Israel represents the ability to get it quickly. However, I don't count out that army, EVER.