Marc, I've tried to research everything in as objective manner as I could. If I'm wrong somewhere or ill informed, I'm happy to be corrected
Joey said:
You never get to hear the Muslim voice saying that the land is theirs, that they own it. Not because it doesn't exist, but because the world doesn't give Palestinians the light of day to express their beliefs. The world is in favour of Israel.
See, this is all part of the complexity of the issue. Gavin's image speaks volumes, but it kind of misses out a lot too.
Remember, Israel legally owns most of the land in those images. The reasons for them owning it legally aren't good though. It's a weak foundation and it's an incursion into another people's territory. Said people weren't happy and (with the aid of other Muslim nations) fought back using terrorist and guerilla tactics against Israel. This led to the Six Day war which Israel won with no uncertainty and they gained control of more land "to reduce attacks on Israel".
That's pretty much been the pattern since. Palestine use terrorist attacks and Israel respond with more violence and/or land grabs. The Israelis don't help by then building in areas that are meant to be buffer zones or belong to Palestine but are not meant to be used for living. They're constantly pushing into Palestinian lands in some areas, which then causes the Palestinians to attack back with violence.
Part of the move by Palestine with the acceptance into the UN is to try and get them recognition and help to stop Israel from pushing their borders and to help them negotiate some form of peace. Unfortunately, Palestine is split into two organisations. The official one (the PLO) came from a terrorist background and is trying to be legit. A lot of members seem to think that they should just use violence.
The other group, Hamas, governs the Gaza Strip and are classed as a terrorist organisation. They will never agree to compromises with Israel and believe that only by fighting back can they regain their lands from Israel (they were given a lot of it back in 2003 (I think it was 2003)). So you have one legitimate party trying to go the political route, but they have a dubious background and are inextricably linked to a terrorist organisation physically fighting.
This is why you tend not to hear the Muslim voice; it's disparate and has its roots in violence.
While Israel are far from innocent and far from pacifist, they're reactive violent rather than instigators. Kind of like the kids in school who yell abuse and call you names to goad you into hitting them. Then when you do, you threw the first punch and it's your fault then that they flattened you.