who have been imprisoned in what is left of their own land. I do believe that there enough hatemongers on both sides and there does not seem to be any end to this problem.

sentence, but do not subscribe to the hopelessness you seem to convey.

I believe with the right leaderships, a peaceful remedy can be found.

It came close under people like Sadat, Rabin, and Carter, and it can happen again

I did not go into who did what, there were many mistakes made on both sides and sadly, the Palestinians lost any sympathy for their treatment when they attacked innocent civilians all over the place to promote their cause, which of course backfired and they became the bad guys. However Israel has done many things that only made things worse.

I hope you are right and a peaceful solution can be found, unfortunately there is still so much hatred and distrust coming from both sides. I do not see any easy solution while the differences are many and both sides seem to believe that they have god on their side.
When my dad was not feeling very optimist about a situation he would always say "Live in hope, die in despair" A grim statement that may be true in this case.

"imprisoned in their own land".

That connotation can mean many things, and has been control by many powers, both within and outside of the middle east.

I took too broad of an interpretation of that comment, while now I think you are referring to the situation today.

I should have also added Bill Clinton to the list of peacemakers.

In fact, what I believe started to derail any possible peace efforts was when George W. Bush became president, and every republican since then has done everything to make it worse, while every Democratic President tried to bring both sides together.

No doubt that Trump has got to be the worst thus far in the last thirty 30 years

and you said it perfectly when you mention Trump, He most definitely is the worst person in the world to deal with just about any international problems.

the United States, unfortunately, has never, ever been an honest broker regarding the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian debacle. Donald Trump has helped to make it worse.

There is nothing else to say.

Bill Maher is 100% correct. It is a smokescreen devised to hide the true intent of the BDS movement. It is a pity that so many have been taken in by it.

as recognizing that the Palestinians are one of the most oppressed people on the face of the Earth.
Instead of a two-state solution or the current disenfranchisement of the Palestinians, why does no one recommend the simple approach of a democratic solution? Could it be because a free election by all of the adults population would result in an Arab-majority government?

In my opinion, defending Israel on this question is no different than supporting the apartheid government in South Africa.

The problem with that is the Jews, who are indigenous to Israel, have every right to their own lands, just like any other indigenous group.

So it is hard to imagine a democratic solution. A single state solution will lead to an Islamic theocracy and civil war.

I'm still of the opinion that the two-state solution is the only safe, sane and sensible solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian debacle. When one looks at both Jewish history and Palestinian history, it is clear that both peoples need self-determination, normalization and protection against oppression in the form of their own individual, independent, sovereign nation-states alongside each other. Israel, the jewish-majority sovereign nation-state, and the nascent (new) independent, sovereign Palestinian nation-state alongside Israel, and not in place of Israel.

I'll also add that Jerusalem should be an international city, and a shared Capitol between Israel and Palestine; Jewish West Jerusalem as the Capitol of Israel, and Arab East Jerusalem as the Capitol of the nascent State of Palestine.

Having said all of the above, the international community, the UN Security Council, and the United States should do what should've been done immediately after the 1967 Six-Day middle east war: Enforce the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared Capitol between the two sovereign nation-states of Israel and Palestine, and not permitted the building of settlements and/or right-wing Jewish Israeli settlers to create their own housing in West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Those other territories do not belong to Israel, and the International community and the United States must move in and stop Netanyahu from annexing them--now!

Imho, the two-state solution is the only truly democratic, safe, sane and sensible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian debacle. If a one-state solution is the BDS movement position, I will absolutely not support the BDS movement.

The fact is that a one-state solution would result in an Arab-majority government, and the Israeli Jews, rightly, do not wish to become a minority in their own country. When one looks at history, unlike the Irish, Italians, Greeks, and most other groups who fled their old countries due to various oppressions, and were majorities in the countries from which they fled oppression, the Jews and are still a teeny tiny minority in the countries from where they fled, and, when one looks at both Jewish and Palestinian history, both peoples need their own independent, sovereign nation-states, in which they are a majority, are normalized, and can control their own destiny, and have self-determination.

Specifically, do the Jews of Israel have a right to a Jewish majority state in any part of historical Palestine?