I find it ironic that you start off with "It sure sounds like you have no understanding of the history of colonialism and ethnic cleansing that the state of Israel is founded upon."

As I said above, I support and empathize with the Palestinians. I never said I didn't. The Arab and Israeli nationalism movements started out relatively peacefully and the Palestinian Arab national movement began targeting Jewish nationalist in the twenties, carrying out some brutal attacks. This is part of what spurred and eventually culminated into the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948. After which, the violence escalated ad Israel took land that wasn't theirs. If you think this started in 1948, then yes, Israel would the source, but it dates back further than that, and to pretend that one clearly started it, when the origins are unclear, and both sides have resorted to heinous acts, and both sides have people who don't approve of their government's actions...

Now if you want to talk about 'ethnic cleansing' and the founding of Israel, I dunno... maybe you want to read something about the Holocaust. When a group is being attacked by all sides for literally centuries, and has been attack by Arab nationalists since the 1920's, and then has six million of its people exterminated, yes, there is a desire to be insular.

This does not mean I support Israel or see it as blameless. I am highly critical of both sides. But this is not some black-and-white issue and leading of with 'But he started' it makes it sound like a fourth-grade fight.

What is more overt and clear is that Europeans invaded and colonized the Americas, killing thousands of Natives and taking their land. There is a clear 'bad guy' in that case. Can I assume that with your logic you view the American government in the same light as the Israeli government? And the Canadian, Mexican and Austrian governments in the same way? Or is there some kind of rationalization that makes it ok?