Israelis and Arabs learn about each event from their respective media. They are "armed" with the "standard arguments" that predominate in their respective cultures, which are repeated on the news by their respective pundits and which active bloggers repeat frequently in blogs and responses. Most people - even government officials on all sides - don't speak each other's languages, watch each other's media or understand basic aspects of each other's society (an Egyptian MP recently demanded to know "why Israel broadcast this documentary at this sensitive time"; he clearly lacks even the most basic understanding of how Israeli society functions). While Israeli media tends to be a free-for-all in which many sides are represented, most Arab media outlets are state-controlled and highly editorialized, dedicated either to propping up or to attacking any given government. Some Arab media organizations are better than others in this respect, but if you think you know of an unbiased one, ask how many times in the last month it has broadcast a news story that is even moderately positive toward the Israeli state. Now do the same with a large Israeli media organization regarding Egypt, or Lebanon, or Saudi Arabia, or even Syria. In most Arab media and some Israeli media, extreme editorial bias is not only not regarded as a problem, but is in fact regarded as a requirement. These organizations see news as propaganda, intended to score points and support a thesis that the "other" is evil, whereas most Israeli take either a more realist approach that tries to help democratic societies make educated decisions in a dangerous time, or a sensational approach that treats the news as entertainment and doesn't worry about consequences. Sometimes there is a blend of all three. Israelis and Arabs also observe and react to each event through the lens of their own prejudices. Prejudices are mental habits. Habits are behavior that does not involve conscious thought and can only be broken through conscious effort, so mental habits are chains of conclusions and emotions that occur automatically without conscious analysis. While there is nothing wrong with having mental habits, self-destructive ones should be corrected. The only way to do this is to be aware of these habits, and consciously practice more constructive responses until new habits form. Since most Arabs on the street have never talked seriously with an Israeli, and many Israelis have never talked seriously to "foreign" Arabs, the biases implanted by media and education go largely unchallenged in Arab societies, and even the most insane conspiracy theories are believed and passed on uncritically (e.g. poisonous balloons). Israelis have habits too. The most intriguing blog conversations take place when people set aside the habitual stuff, stop trying to be macho and score points against each other, and actually listen and think. Previously lurking, Zvi (nice blog!)