Voices of youth

My local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, isn't a particular good newspaper. The quality has declined greatly over the years. Thomas Friedman's column used to appear here but then all of a sudden they stopped. Now we have Garrison Keillor's column where he never actually writes about anything. Just garbage!

I don't know why I read the Sun - definitely not for the Middle East coverage (probably for the sports coverage). Anyway, today they have an interesting collection of questions and responses from teenagers from the Ramallah Friends School and the Hebrew University Secondary School. I admit, some of it is disturbing. Some of the responses from the Palestinian youth are laced with hate. I might seem biased but just look at some of those shocking answers of the Palestinian youths. For example:

Q. So what happens now?

"I think the perfect plan now is to establish two states, one Palestinian, one Israeli, and with the help of time, the Palestinian state is going to be strong and we'll do to the Israelis the same thing they did to us." - Hend Younis

I've never heard of a Jew wishing for the near annihilation of the Germans. This is disgusting.

The prospects for peace aren't great. But I still believe in Amos Oz's vision for peace - where both sides still hate each other but are just worn out from war. IMHO Israeli-Palestinian peace will not occur during Obama's first term. I hope I am wrong. Hopefully in the 2nd term (if there would be one).