AP News, June 2nd, 2007
Some quotes from Israelis and Palestinians about their conflict since the Six-Day War in 1967:
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"I remember the broadcast about Jerusalem. I sat with my father next to the radio. The excitement of the reporter as he reaches the Kotel (Western Wall). We are not religious people, but we all had a strong sense that something historic was happening, that the Jewish history had suddenly changed." _ dovish Israeli legislator Avshalom Vilan, recalling the conquest of east Jerusalem on June 7, 1967.
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"I would love to be able to love Jerusalem, but as hard as I try, I am finding it extremely difficult. And faced with the choice, Jerusalem or a human being, I would certainly put the human being above. And I think we have put Jerusalem for far too long above humanity. And I think enough is enough." _ Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh about rival Israeli and Palestinian claims to Jerusalem.
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"I am ready, for the sake of peace, to give up parts of my country, but I can never accept that this is an occupied land." _ Jewish settler leader Israel Harel, arguing that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are part of the ancient Jewish homeland.
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"If you are going to oppress me, if you continue to humiliate me ... how am I going to love you, make peace with you? Everything is imposed on the Palestinians, but not the narrowest glimpse of hope is given to the Palestinians." _ Konstantin Dabbagh, a Palestinian Christian in Gaza, on what he sees as the cause of the conflict.
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"We acted according to all the colonialist rules. We wouldn't even let them make their own cigarettes. I know this, because I was part of it." _ Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar, about his time serving in the military government in the Palestinian areas.
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"I'm not optimistic that things are going to change, and that the occupation is going to end very soon. But I am confident that sooner or later it's going to happen, because I don't think the Israelis or the Palestinians can live with this forever." _ former Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan Khatib.
