Palestine is the initiator of force

Is the onus only on Palestinians?
Response to http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/rc20060212a3.html

Terry Greenberg’s comments [Is the onus only on Palestinians?”, 12/2/06] on the fractious nature of Palestinian-Israeli relations are naïve. The onus is on Hamas to change because it ‘initiates’ the use of force. If it is defending anything, it’s the right to destroy Israel. If you want any evidence of the anti-life values held by the Palestinians, one need only compare the state of these nations. To answer his question “How do you ask people who are under attack to give up self-defense?”. Easy. Stop attacking, and stop supporting an organization like Hamas dedicated to the destruction of other countries. The evidence is clear. Political opponents to the Israeli government are not summarily executed as they are in Palestine. Palestinian democracy is a pretense since any opponents would be persecuted. Israel has no territorial ambitions. It voluntarily relinquished control over lands that provided a legitimate buffer for its own nation, whilst applying punitive damage to Palestinian policy. Paradoxically Hamas might be a path to peace in the region. It may well reinvent itself as an agent of diplomacy, but it will not be out of empathy for Israelis or its own people, but a desire for political power, or perhaps US intervention or lost financial support. That of course does not prevent them from secretly financing terrorist.