The Israeli/Palestinian crisis

This is really tough for me. I'm Jewish and was raised to believe that Israel was a miracle that could do no wrong.

Obviously, the reality is more complex.

But to me, the bottom line is this: if you believe that Israel has a right to exist- as I do- then you must accept that fact that a) a lot of people in that region, and around the world, do not believe in that right, and b) a lot of the motives, policies, and actions of those in the area are geared toward the destruction of Israel.

The issue is not one-sided, of course. The above-mentioned facts notwithstanding, the Israeli treatment of occupied Palestinians has been asymmetric, heavy-handed, and contrary in spirit to the very essence of what Israel means to me as a Jew, and to what it means to be a Jew.

The current situation- the occupations, the settlements, etc.- is not viable, and in many ways is the result of the flawed history of Israel's creation.

We need true leadership from both sides in order to move forward. The Middle East neighborhood needs to genuinely accept Israel's right to exist. The Palestinians need their own state. Israel needs to abandon settlements not on their own land (whatever that means) and pull back to their "real" (again, whatever that means) borders.

Then, and only then, can we have conditions where we can maybe begin to move forward.