Richard Alonzo on the Israel/Palestine misery

It's hard to know where to start with some one who won't even acknowledge the humanity of the other side and their right to exist. Who uses the crimes of others to justify their own. Who takes the word of the Israeli military as gospel. Who  he cites in quoting the militant:civilian 1:1 ratio, when in fact most independent sources put it at 1:3. 

You could also cite international law on the settlements in the occupied territories in violation of the fourth Geneva convention that inflame the situation and Israels refusal to recognize the Palestinian right of return in violation of UN general assembly resolutions 194 & 3236.

I've had similar conversations with people at work along the lines of what if it was your home so lets turn the example of Halesowen on its head. How would you feel if the original inhabitants Halesowen (the Celts) suddenly appeared on your doorstep one day brandishing guns and gave you 24 hours to leave your home and dumped you all in Cradley Heath. Then built a wall around it so you had to endure the daily humiliation of queuing up for hours each day at military checkpoints, to travel to Halesowen to do minimum wage jobs for the people who had occupied your homes, before travelling back home through the same checkpoints again. 

Finally you could tell him that the Bush doctrine, a war on terror, asymmetric warfare using over-whelming conventional force against terrorists has been a total failure. The Taliban still controls larges parts of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya following western military intervention have become failed states and breeding grounds for ever more extreme forms of terrorism. That history tells us it almost impossible to defeat terrorism militarily and despite public protestations to the contrary Government know this and talk to terrorists because all the time because the only viable solution is a political one. 

Here in the UK back channels to the IRA were opened in 1972 almost as soon as the troubles started and remained in place throughout the darkest days of the conflict. That a far more constructive humane and christian response to terrorism is the one shown by the parents of Tim Parry  in the aftermath of the Warrington bombing.