mav, there is much thoughtful in what you've said (indeed much that I agree with), to which I will respond later. But one point I simply must correct, promptly:

The fact is that for more than five decades, in defiance of ... international law, the Palestinians' land has been occupied and their rights ignored by Israel ...

Mav, that is not a "fact"; it is the opinion of the author you quote, and it is highly debatable.*

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*Indeed, the author's blunt claim of "ignored", with absolutely no qualification or exception, ought to indicate that he is -- at best -- oversimplifying and overgeneralizing.