I'm back! Sorry it's taken so long - but I do return to comments eventually. I think you're exploring some of the complexities quite well with Michael and that's why I'm not taking a side.

Yes it seems an unfair fight when you take away the historical situation. The people of Gaza and the West Bank are having a fairly horrific time of it and that's why I'd always argue for a compassionate response from everyone - but there is no simple fix here. An Israeli withdrawl, like in Gaza as a result of the Oslo Accords, led to civil war between Hamas and Fatah and the death of more Palestinians.

There are hardliners on both sides of the argument and the law of unintended consequences should be applied judiciously. I think if Israel unilaterally agreed to a return to the 1967 borders and removed all settlements, finances and military forces, demands for the destruction of Israel would intensify rather than dissipate. This would be counter productive - because another six day war wouldn't last six hours with today's technology. The fallout from which would be catastrophic.

The answer, and I think the only viable answer - is to move the Israelis into a liberal position and for the Palestinians to move to the centre ground. A difficult ask given the history. The recent Hamas charter seems to be doing this, whilst still not explicity recognising Israel as a nation. I think the 'Free Palestine' adoption by leftists is far more likely to empower Palestinian extremists rather than moderates - and make moderate israelis dig their heels in. I don't think it helps with the stated aim - this I generally consider to be true for a lot of movements. Their stated aims are wholesome, but their outcomes and effects have the opposite to the ones intended.

I don't think these discussions are ever circular, it's nice to chat - and apologies for taking so long to get back involved with the conversation. I recommend, if you're really feeling the Penguin life-style, writing a pro-Israel article. See it as a challenge. This will mean researching against your existing thought process or bias and will be very uncomfortable to do - but it's a worthwhile way of exploring the sheer complexity of the arguments. You may find it moves you into the centre ground to argue passionately for something you wholeheartedly disagree with.