interesting post eazyduzzit.
a saw a flick awhile ago that echoes some of your observations regarding the day-to-day life in the occupied territories, 'peace, propoganda & the promised land':
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...romised%2BLand
for the record i'm quite sure that the VAST majority of israelis do not want to live in fear forever, and genuinely want peace with their neighbours - but there's always the harder edge of zionism that has been tolerated for a long time, that 5-10% of the knesset that swings coalitions and can keep settlements going up. these are the dudes that at the very least want the greater judea, and at worst interpret religious teachings as saying that they have to cleanse the land of its current inhabitants as in the old testament. funny but we never hear much aboot these guys on the news and the statements they make all the time...
for every theodor herzl there seems to be a jabotinsky in the zionist political juggernaut, this has been in my opinion the core problem the whole way - i honestly think that without this harder edge and the terrorism that comes with it the first real steps towards peace could be taken.