Ha'aretz has a good column by Ze'ev Sternhell on the original basis for Zionism -- "an answer to an existential danger that threatened the Jewish people during the first half of the 20th century" -- and the danger of having it become mere colonialism regarding the lands siezed in 1967.
For everyone who talks about how the Arabs teach their children to hate Jews, we should also remember what's happening in the settlements:
Indeed, this fanatical nationalism, which is brutal not out of necessity but out of deliberate choice and rational decision, is already beginning to sprout noxious weeds that arouse disgust. I am referring to the settler mentality in its latest manifestation in the form of letters that students at schools in the territories wrote to fighters in Operation Defensive Shield. These children did not ask the soldiers to wipe out terror and strike at the terrorists, but "to kill as many Arabs as possible." One asked: "For me, kill at least 10"; another made an even simpler suggestion: "Ignore the laws and spray them."
