Is it any wonder why Palestinians are upset with Israel?

[wnylib]

93. I remember Clinton's work on that peace

arrangement and the Intifads. I also remember that, in that promising time period, when it was so important to maintain good relations, Ariel Sharon decided to visit the Temple Mount, despite repeated warnings that it would be a provocative act that would disrupt the delicate balance of the peace since both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims claim the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa mosque as sacred.

It was a deliberately provocative act that destroyed all that had been accomplished in the peace negotiations. It indicated that Israeli leaders had no intention of ever cooperating in a two state solution. The Temple Mount/Al Aqsa site was already a bone of contention in the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis. Control and/or access to it was still to be settled, so Sharon's act was symbolically an arbitrary claiming statement of ownership. Sharon knew full well in advance that his action would set off an angry reaction that would blow up the peace process. He was, in effect, flipping a bird at it.

I am NOT justifying the violence and bloodshed on both sides that followed. But I am calling Israel's sincerity about peace as phony as the Palestinians perceived it to be.

The settlement of Palestinian territory after the 1967 war has been a provocative act ever since it started. It is also an indication to Palestinians that Israel intends to claim ALL of the land that it wants. So Israel is not blameless in its troubles with Palestinians. Yet Israel continually refuses to accept any responsibility for preventing the two state solution from becoming reality.