Technically, Palestinians and Israelis are both semetic peoples.
Also, while the Palestinians may have resided in Gaza, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Sinai, those territories were actually seized from Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian control. I'm pretty sure Sinai and the Golan Heights were taken out of self-defense (the former as a buffer against Egypt and the latter because it was so easy to hide a military build-up from Israel). Gaza and the West Bank, though, were IMO pure land-grabs. The West Bank grab was especially blatant, as it put Jerusalem into Israeli-controlled territory.
All that said, and while answering stones with guns is definitely overkill, keep in mind that some of those stones are large enough, and plainly intended, to kill people. Firing rockets into random towns hoping to kill civilians (especially knowing what the inevitable response will be) is just as much an atrocity as moving soldiers in to kill everyone who even looks at them funny.
There is ZERO hope for peace as long as either side continues targeting the others' civilians. Personally, despite my being liberal by American standards, I would love nothing more than to see EVERY person on EITHER side who ever deliberately harmed a civilian (defined as anyone who has not taken up arms) shot in the face as a war criminal.
With a bazooka.
Maybe after that the survivors can act reasonably and work things out.
