Europeans just don't understand...

I often see claims that Europeans can't understand the pressure that Israel is under. Well, there are at least 50 million British who do.

Here in the UK we had the Northern Ireland 'troubles' for at least 30 years, during which time over 3,500 people were killed, over 1,800 of which were civilians. There was a period when bombs were a daily occurrence in Northern Ireland, and the UK mainland was also bombed several times, even killing and maiming senior British politicians. There are still breakaway dissident groups prolonging the terrorism today.

To our disgrace, we tried internment (detention without trial) and there were incidents of torture and mistreatment of prisoners. We found that such methods increased the pool of willing volunteers for the terrorist groups.

We didn't bomb or invade the Republic of Ireland, deny food, water, fuel, or medical supplies to what were perceived (with some justification) as 'hostile' communities, use children as human shields, or demolish the homes of terrorist suspects' families. We didn't kill ten or a hundred times as many people as the terrorists did, nor did we violate international waters.

There is currently a fragile peace in Northern Ireland. If we had of done what Israel does, that peace would have been far harder to achieve.

During the troubles, there was a great deal of support (mainly for the republicans, but also for the loyalists) from the USA. The US Government made it difficult or impossible to extradite wanted terrorists to the UK. Only after 9/11 did that change when the USA discovered what it means to be a victim of terrorism.

The USA continues to support Israel. What will it take for them to realise that the sting would be taken out of extreme Islamic terrorism if they would just treat the Palestinians fairly and stop supporting Israel? Another 9/11?