Before I start I'll just say I'm for a U.N. controlled Jerusalem area. I live in a predominately Jewish area in the United States, but I tend to be more critical of Israel then my Jewish brethren. The people of Israel live in constant fear. I hear stories from friends of relatives being killed. I think Israel a lot of the time does a lot of terrible things to the Palestinians around them, but it's really hard for them to just sit there and do nothing when people shoot of rockets or blow up a bus. It also doesn't help that the people elected a much more radical conservative to office. The people in Israel want peace, but they're scared of not doing anything. When I hear my own relatives talk about the Holocaust, they always say "never again". There's this feeling that after all the shit the jews went through, they deserve to fend off people who want to blow the crap out of them. I'm not justifying some of the actions they're taking, but there's a place where Israel is coming from. They aren't a terrorist state anymore then the United States was/is for going into Iraq or Afghanistan. They did what they felt they needed to do under pressure and various forces.