A Palestinian director whose documentary is up for an Academy Award, was detained at LAX along with his wife and eight-year-old son.  Director Emad Burnat, whose film is titled “5 Broken Cameras”, contacted documentary film maker Michael Moore while he was being detained, and Moore immediately tweeted, “Apparently the Immigration & Customs officers couldn’t understand how a Palestinian could be an Oscar nominee. Emad texted me for help.”  Since Mr Burnat was able to send a message to Moore, we have to assume he was being treated fairly.  But the rabble-rouser Moore went further, tweeting the message that Burnat sent him, “It’s nothing I’m not already used to” and “When u live under occupation, with no rights, this is a daily occurrence.”  The only problem with this persecution complex, is many people are stopped and detained for questioning.  If I had a dollar for every time I was called in to immigration, I could go on a nice vacation.  Are People from the middle east more likely to be detained, absolutely.  But it sounds like the TSA and authorities at LAX handled this properly and after 1.5 hours, Burnat, his wife and son were on their way.  Regardless of what Moore may say or think, most Americans would rather our airport authorities err on the side of caution.  That brings me to the occupation.  There is no question that most Israeli’s would prefer to leave the West Bank.  There is absolutely no gain for Israel to be in control of this territory.  None.  But look what happened when she unilaterally exited Gaza.  There was no peace.  Instead, rockets rained down.  And it wasn’t because the West Bank was still under Israeli control.  It’s that the extremist, militant factions don’t want a two state solution and those factions wield all the power.  Israel does not have a partner in peace.  Anyone who doesn’t believe that, is ignorant as to the history of the region.  The UN borders were drawn in 1948 and that wasn’t good enough.  Israel was attacked right out of the gate, before she could raise her flag.  No one can dispute that.  Of course there are those that would say the U.N. didn’t have the right to re-draw the map in the first place, and there is nowhere to take that argument.  But to say Israel doesn’t want peace would be to discount the relationship prior to the Arab Spring she enjoyed with Egypt, Jordan and Turkey.  In fact, Israel enjoys strong ties with other Arab countries that are secretive because of the fear of repercussions.  The moderates in the middle east understand that the smallest threat to their sovereignty comes from Israel.  They are pragmatists.  Ensuring Israel’s security is all any Israeli wants.  But Hamas has sworn to destroy Israel and will never recognize Israel’s right to exist.  How then does Israel proceed?  Israel is a Democracy and most Israeli’s are fairly liberal.  They would like nothing more than to stop throwing away money on “occupying” the West Bank.  But Israel must have a legitimate partner in peace and there hasn’t been one in the middle east since Anwar Sadat was gunned down for his friendship towards Israel.  If there is to ever be a two state solution, all extremism must end and a legitimate plan, with insightful, progressive leaders must be in place.  Otherwise, there will never be true peace.  What’s so ironic, is that Arabs and Jews have so much in common.  They share far more similarities than differences and yet there is so much hatred and distrust.