I'm sorry that you apparently did not understand why I was doing this. The idea was that the discussion would progress further, with less frustration on the part of administrators and members who have tired of multiple threads with parallel topics involving Israel/Palestine. Especially on this particular subject, thread titles and opening posts can often become like competing billboards. To me, it seems that this competition of threads on Israel/Palestine becomes like separate street picketers harassing each other, with little substantive debate and discussion involved.
It was never my intention to stifle or suppress debate on this subject in designating a lasting and thread (more accurately, I affirmed Goofy's earlier designation). I did not mean to discourage picking up any discussions here closely related to Israel/Palestine, and reviewing the above posts there have been some quite valuable contributions. All in all, a mishmash and rabble at times, but still a successful thread IMO.
Merging threads using our vBulletin engine is problematic, because the software allows only chronological sequence regardless of the thread origins. So when other Palestine/Israel threads developed discussions before I noticed them, there was no easy way to merge them here without making things confusing.
For as long as there is a state policy of ethnic segregationism in Israel, there will always be a need to discuss it, and I hope that those of us with something to say about the topic can always find a convenient place to express and share insightful information on the topic here. Israel/Palestine is one particularly vexing topic long awaiting much-overdue rational examination and resolution- moreso than "Americans, Muslims, Iran, wars, and Obama" as you say- I would not treat those subjects similarly. I have been tempted to do some recombinant research on the multiplicity of warmongering threads concerning Iran- but I'm hoping that the fear-meme about Iran will fade out soon without a war. I believe that solutions also await in Palestine/Israel that have clear precedent in other human and civil-rights struggles. As intractable as it may seem to some, I think that the Israel/Palestine question will not only find a solution someday- I expect that the just solution will be a model to the world, and Jerusalem a global focal-point of collective hope and unity, instead of fear, anger, and mistrust.
I do not share your opinion that encouraging one discussion of this topic has made the discussion less coherent. There were times when parallel discussions developed before I noticed them, and it was problematic to merge them. I did not toss in every discussion related to Israel and Palestine here, but those that were in my estimation closely related, I did. I made a few notes along the way to try and reduce the confusion all that I could. I had been thinking about providing some highlights of this thread in kicking off Round 2 soon. This thread had gotten so long, it was overdue for a second edition.
Let's explore again whether it is more ground-breaking and informative to return to a multiplicity of threads on this topic. I hope that your preference is correct, because it will certainly take less attention and effort as moderator to just allow multiple threads on this topic to run concurrently. I hope that all who create and participate in multiple threads on this topic will take care that good discussion will not be lost, because some good posts will surely go down along with various dim, incendiary, or otherwise substandard threads involving Palestine/Israel. I would advise those who are serious about this subject to choose your threads carefully, so as to invest more thought and effort into the discussions that have the most probability of getting somewhere. I and my colleagues will be shooting down threads that start poorly or devolve into the more superficial exchanges that we've seen much before.
If there is significant interest expressed in an Israel/Palestine superthread in the future, I'm willing to combine discussions there again, as best I can, and with the help of fellow members and moderators. I would very much like to see our discussions of Israel and Palestine advance further than they have. Reviewing this thread, there were some moments when it did get further in my view than the usual grandstanding and retrenchment. I invite anyone interested in this topic to review this thread, and consider picking up the best aspects of the conversations combined above.
