I have been away from this Forum for some time, so, was naturally curious. Im a very brief exploration, I noticed that the tone of discussions has become more abusive. Somebody had posted a video "Free Palestine: Zionist Jews killing Orthodox Jews", but when I watched it, there was no killing, just an altercation over building works. So why was it posted? To breed hatred? There was also an article claiming that the Jews controlled US policy with "lavish contributions" to election campagns. Fotr anybody who has taken the trouble to check, this lies in the same realm of fantasy as "the Proptocols of the Elders of Zion" and other antisemitic slurs. US Jews tend to favour the Democratcs by about a 60:40 split. If you check any of the contribution reports, say that of Hilary Clinton, which was published on the Web, you find that less than 1% of her campaign contributions were Jewish, an infinitessimal drop in the bucket, and if no Jews had contributed, most candidates wouldn't even notice the difference.
So why the lies? Intolerance and hate really have no place on a peace forum. On the other hand I also noticed so very many comments that display huge ignorance of history, even recent events, and a powerful adherence to the political line they favour.
If you're truly interested in peace, then learn, as objectively as possible, what happened, so that you can independently decide what's right. Put yourself in each person's shoes. There is something wrong with anybody who doesn't recognise Palestinian suffering, but something just as wrong with anybody who automatically puts the cause of it at Israel's door. Anybody who ignores the horrific oppression of the Palestinians by Hamas, the brainwashing (abuse) of the children in order to produce more martyrs, their theft of food and fuel destined for the hungry, anybody who ignores this, needs to rethink if they truly have any interest in peace, or rather, "peace" at whose expense. Similarly there is something wrong with anybody who doesn't recognise Israeli suffering. The wars to destroy Israel, or more recently, 8 years of 8,000 missiles on a million vulnerable civilians, and the suffering imposed can't be ignored by anybody interested in peace either.
I have always believed in discussion on any level, but was shocked by many calling themselves peacemakers. Discussion is, after all, about hearing the other, checking what they say, then responding, not automatically rejecting points simply because they don't fit your prejudice.
These are just comments