re: #190 FemNaziBitch

Yes, you win ONE INTERNETS for having a good memory.

In undergrad I took a polisci course on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. This was right after Hamas won the elections, and the Western response really puzzled me, because it had seemed the perfectly logical outcome of a two party system when the majority of the voting public was dissatisfied with the party in power (Fatah).

Anyway, it was taught by this wonderful professor whose name eludes me right now - it’s probably filed away somewhere - who had actually been a minor diplomat attached to the peace process for a time and had met Arafat. Wonderful older Jewish gentleman, and the class was very fair and balanced. I definitely felt like I learned a lot.

My main takeaway was that for all the talk about Jerusalem and old borders, the real sticking point is going to be water rights. And at the current rate, it may not make much difference - the aquifers under the Gaza strip were already suffering severe saltwater infiltration in 2006 and I can’t imagine it’s gotten any better.