When I think of Israel, I no longer think of a refuge for the opressed or a land of great achievements. What comes to mind is racism, repression, murder, two-faced foreign policies, threats of force and a military machine out of control.

Ths week’s Israeli Government announcement of 400-plus additional homes to built on stolen land, in defiance of international condemnation, fairness or any sort of moral right to do so is enough to indicate that the only language with meaning in this debate is that of force.

Roll on the embargoes.

Unfortunately, we of the remainder of the world must now protect those who have become radicalised against Westerners, the very Palestinians and others of the Middle East who currently view us as part of their problem, rather than as part of the solution.

There is so much to be done, and it is all so difficult… yet peace in the Middle East can only be founded on fairness, and that concept went out the window as soon as Israellis got the upper hand militarily.

Quite possibly, the 6-Day War of about 40 years back was the turning point, when the Arabs became indisputably subordinated to the Israelis. And please don’t remind me that some Israellis are Arabs. Tokenism will always be tokenism. Respect is a necessary precursor of peace.

We could marry and have our own children: Hymie and Osama. You’re anti violence, so allow me to smack Osama upside his head; and Hymie, despite being persecuted at school, you will teach never to defend himself.

We won’t send our kids to school, you can home educate them with Google, it’s all anyone needs these days.

Our boys will have share a bedroom but with a big wall between them to stop them fighting.

Osama will have a dozen arranged marriages and pursue a career as flight attendant. We are proud of his success. Hymie will be a doctor and help deliver many babies in the freezing checkpoints of our suburbs….

There’s a myriad of other so-called ‘check points’ and other revolting and oppressive incidents every day. I haven’t even mentioned squashing visiting US or Canadian or british citizens with their bulldozers etc. Sickening! I don’t give a damn whether I’m accused of being anti-Sematic - that doesn’t work anymore! I’m anti killing and oppressing people!

Too many of my ignorant Lefty mates (whose only connection to Middle East is a Kebab run on Friday night after the Kingston Hotel) miss this point - that blaming all Israeli’s for the actions of the elected minority coalition government is like saying all Australians are racist because the majority voted for Howard, Ruddock and by extention, the spunky Pauline Hanson.

Okay, besides the fact she’s hot, I reckon most Aussie’s are racist and stupid - but the point is John Howard didn’t speak for us - he spoke for only a few. But, say the above Crikey readers, from 1996-2007, Australians MUST have supported the detention of asylum seekers and the locking up of Hicks etc because the majority elected government instituted these repressive and inhumane laws, right? That makes sense doesn’t it? We elected Howard, so we’re collectively responsible and to blame for whatever Howard and his merry men did in our name?

David’s point is that if we blame ‘the people’ for their government, then all Iranians are Holocaust denying terrorists, all Russians are state sponsored Muslim killing terrorists, all Chinese are Tibetan killing terrorists and so on.

And a question: what should we do to the Palestinians who will suffer if Hamas institute Sharia law throughout Gaza? Surely, having elected Hamas, ALL Palestinians support the repression of women, the banning of women from public office, the banning of women from university, the stoning of women for adultary and the execution of trade unionists and moderates?

Nuthin’ I spose, given that they elected this form of governance, right?

In fact, ALL Palestinians suffer from Israeli restrictions on their freedoms and attacks on their country and people and that is condoned by the majority of the Israeli people (who continue to elect governments who implement these policies).

It seems perfectly reasonable, then, to suggest that in return the Israel should be subject to such non-violent retribution as sanctions.

It is certiainly not “going to far”, as David Imber suggests.

We should have equal respect for the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians, but Imber is clearly putting the rights of “ordinary” Israelis above “ordinary” Palestinians.

It’s that sort of thinking that just keeps these intractable conflicts going, and going, and going.