The current situation in Israel has been going on for decades and will likely go on for decades more. While the violence in the Middle East is shocking, what is more shocking is the typical lack of concern most Americans show for it.

Americans are more concerned with how the violence will affect the stock market than how many Palestinians are murdered.

Two things happened yesterday to make an already complex situation more arcane for America.

Two Israeli soldiers took a wrong turn into Ramallah, West Bank, and after failing to find refuge with Palestinian police, were killed by a mob while the cameras captured every gruesome detail of the lynching.

Israel, of course, retaliated by brutally murdering a whole host of Palestinians, bombing radio stations and an ambulance while the cameras captured every brutal detail of the slaughter.

During a routine refueling in a Yemeni harbor on the Arabian Peninsula, a 40-foot hole was ripped in the side of the USS Cole in what the major news networks are calling an act of terrorism.

According to Associated Press, President Clinton urged the Israelis and Palestinians to set aside their hatred, return to the peace talks and “stop the bloodshed, to restore calm.”

Meanwhile, the other side of his mouth was saying those responsible for “what now appears to be an act of terrorism” against our Navy will be found and held accountable.

In a CNN interview, Senator John McCain spoke with barely-contained anger as he gave his word that the craven cowards who attacked a defenseless American warship would pay dearly for this affront.

Americans find it so easy to counsel patience to countries they view as inferior. We tell the Palestinians and Israelis to not act emotionally under circumstances we cannot begin to fathom.

What is worse, is we tend to lay everything at the feet of the Palestinians while forgiving our “friend” Israel.

Well, our friend Israel is a nasty piece of work, and it is high time Americans realized that.

Our friend Israel is like that friend who hangs up on us for calling at midnight then calls back at 3 a.m. for a favor. Israel is the kind of friend who takes and takes aid from us, talks smack about us behind our backs, then blows off our birthday every year.

Our relationship with Israel defies analogy, but this one works: with friends like Israel, who needs Nazis?

Our relationship began as many relationships do out of pity. We felt sorry for the atrocities of World War II, who wouldn’t?

Jews around the world were looking for their own state to ensure that no one would ever brutalize their people again the way the Germans did in that war.

We were eager to help. We pushed for an independent Jewish state in Palestine with the help of the British and without considering the people who were living there.

No American worth his salt would tolerate another country carving up his land to make room for what amounted to foreigners, yet we expected the Palestinians to take it in stride. More than likely we just didn’t care.

And we still don’t care.

Most people think of Palestinians and terrorists as interchangeable. Yasser Arafat isn’t accorded the respect of a world leader in the minds of the average American.

Americans are stuck in a pathetic 1970s mindframe when it comes to world politics and most don’t want to change.

Well, it is time for a change. When Israelis murder Palestinians, let’s not call it a “limited action.” Let’s not act all shocked and horrified when two soldiers are killed in a war their country started.

Blood cries out for blood, this cannot be denied. We call for the heads of those who attack us, and are we not civilized?

We can expect no less from our friends in Palestine.

Perhaps the United States should lead by example in this case. Rather than assuming what happened to the Cole was terrorism, let’s give the people of Yemen the benefit of the doubt – at least until the forensic evidence comes in.

And when it does, we should set aside bloodshed and thoughts of revenge to show our angry friends in Israel and Palestine just how easy it is to overcome hatred in the name of peace, even if that peace means taking one for the team.

But we can no longer expect Palestinians to lay down and die like good, little victims when they are being slaughtered by the Israelis.

Americans can no longer afford to be so naive as to wonder why we are hated in parts of the Middle East. We got on the wrong side, and we stayed on the wrong side.

Our friends inIsrael are killing rock-wielding Palestinians with our weapons. We gave them the choppers and the missiles, and it is time for us to tell Israel enough is enough. Stop the violence, or we stop the aid.

Maybe when Israelis are fighting rocks with rocks, peace will suddenly seem like a good idea to them.