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War isn't the answer. War does not lead to the extermination of one side or the other, or the extermination of those views. Instead war inevitably leads back to the negotiating table, in one form or another. And the more acts of violence that are perpetrated, the longer and more difficult that road becomes.
The sad fact is that recent events have pushed both sides much further back down that road than they had come. You can understand why the Israeli's moved into the West Bank, but it was naive to think it would solve the problem. The "infrastructure of terrorism" is in the mind, not in bricks and mortar.
Fundamentally, both sides wish to live in peace, which is the natural state. To caricature one side or the other as "evil" leads to an underestimation of them, and to solve a problem you have to have an understanding of your opponents position, and it's difficult to do that when you're filled with hate and resentment.
The Palestinian bomb in an Israeli town, the Israeli soldier enforcing a curfew in a Palestinian village, each puts peace a little further away. What's required is the courage of restraint, and the courage to deal with hotheads who can't see past that hate and resentment. And that is something both must do.
That's not an easy fix, it's not a solution for the impatient, but it's the only real solution, the only thing that will really lead to peace, and not more conflict. And every time a bomb goes off, every time a soldier steps into a Palestinian village, that process is shaken.
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