>>...has a long history of wanting to wipe the Jews off the map.

This is true. Israel has had to defend itself desperately more than once, and earned the admiration of many when it defended itself from what appeared to be impossible odds.

I'm not sure that's the case wrt the Palestinians, though. They may say that they want Israel destroyed- but in living memory, Irish firebrands were declaring that the only good Catholic was a dead Catholic while the other side vowed to push the Protestants into the sea and planted bombs and kneecapped suspects. Even today there are bomb threats, but now it's clear that the culprits are a small psychopathic minority that somehow held entire communities in sway, wasting the potential of several generations in a conflict that in the end was a nit. As Dr Seuss would have it: people can get along whether there is a star on the belly or not.

Not poking fingers, but I'm a believer that with great privilege comes great responsibility, which in this context means that the wealthier and better educated in any dispute has an obligation to lead a reasonable settlement rather than stoking fires. My belief would be that most Palestinians don't want Israel destroyed- what an own goal that would be- but they buy into the rhetoric when they see homes and families destroyed. Whether it was provoked isn't the issue for them, since they are not the provocateurs and those who say they ought to have abandoned their homes might like to consider how they would feel if they were told to get out of town or if you're bombed, it's your own fault. Seems to me that opportunities, pride and meaningful work transformed the Irish and it would be great to see more focus on that in many of the First World/Third World clashes that people complain about.