"How do you like Israel?"

This is a question that I and others are frequently asked.

Last night, I attended a dinner hosted by Americans and attended by several Israelis (immigrants) -- the oldest have lived here for 50 years, with the newest arrival having immigrated 3 years ago.

The conversations were very interesting to me. For example, the most recent immigrant told horror stories about trying to seek medical care for a very serious and life-threatening medical problem just 2 weeks after arriving in Israel. In the end, he had to essentially start shouting and hollering to get anyone in the hospital to take him seriously.

This is how I feel about virtually everything here -- if you want someone to do something and take you seriously, you often have to become very confrontational, which is just not something I am good at, or feel comfortable doing.

Later, the conversation turned to the influx of immigrants into Europe. One of the guests was basically saying that the number of Muslims is growing so rapidly in Europe that "Europe is lost." He said the Jews really only have Israel, the US, and Australia left as options for countries to live in. Then he went on to say that even Israel has "the Arabs" and then mentioned "right of return" and the disputed Golan Heights.

What struck me about all this talk was that it was all based on an assumption or belief that Jews simply cannot live in a country with Muslims. If this is the assumption, then how can anyone possibly be hopeful about peace in this region?

Personally, I am not, and never have been, hopeful about peace in this region. I simply do not think it is possible. Every side has legitimate points. Everyone has either already lost, or will lose something that they worked hard for. I don't see a solution that will make everyone happy, or make things any better than they are now.