Here are 11 misconceptions often held regarding Israel and Palestine.

Myth #1: Every Palestinian wants to see Israel destroyed and has no desire for peace with the Jewish state.

Reality: The truth is that most of them (73%)

According to an article posted in Haaretz, a majority of Palestinians supports peace agreements with Israel. They believe that the Palestinian authority should use non-violent means to achieve their political goals.

Myth #2: Every single Israeli wants to kill every single Palestinian and hates them.

Reality: Most people (67%) want peace, and they agreed with the poll's terms, which included a settlement with two states.

Myth #3: There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Reality: For many reasons, including the embargo, overpopulation, and lack of land, 70% of the population of Gaza lives in poverty.

Myth #4: Israel took the blockade decision on its own.

Reality: It's 7.5 miles long between Gaza and Egypt. As a matter of national security, Egypt built a wall underground to stop people from using tubes to bring in drugs. Egypt does not want to be on either side of the fight. They made peace with Israel for good in 1979, which caused a big fuss in the Arab world. They don't want to get involved in war anymore.

Myth #5: Israel is a theocracy. Arab Muslims and Christians have no protections under Israeli law.

Reality: It's a theocracy in Israel. Israeli legislation provides no safeguards for Arab Muslims and Christians.

Israel guarantees its citizens religious freedom under the law and in practice. With some adjustments, Ottoman and British administrative norms allow for the practice of non-Jewish religions.

Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, and Baha'i all have official status under Israeli law.

Arab Americans, like other minorities in the United States, have faced prejudice. Their numbers are lower than the Israeli Jewish population across the board, including in literacy, education, and income.

Myth #6: Jews are not Semites, and/or Jews have co-opted the term "antisemitic" to exclude Arabs from its original meaning.

Reality: A German who was openly against Jews and thought they were taking over German society came up with the modern word to (only) refer to Jews. There are many non-Jewish groups and cultures that are called Semites, but I haven't been able to find any current definitions of the word that include these groups.

Myth #7: Before the middle of the 20th century, there were no Jews living in the Middle East.

Reality: Since the beginning of time, Jews have always lived in the Middle East. Along with Palestine, they lived in places like Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. (Notably, starting in 1881, waves of Jews moved to Palestine and bought land from Arab owners who were not there.) During the Ottoman Empire, these Mizrahi Jews had a pretty good life, and many of them saw themselves as "Arabs of the Jewish faith." Things quickly got worse after Israel claimed independence and most of the people left.

Myth #8: Jews from Europe don't have any family roots in Israel.

Reality: Most genetic tests show that Jews are genetically identical to Arab Palestinians and other Arabs in the region. However, Jews are genetically distinct from Europeans.

Myth #9: Israel has always had help from the United States.

Reality: The US did not send any help to Israel before 1967. It's important to note that France did give Israel weapons. It is said on Wikipedia that the Johnson administration was afraid that if they helped Israel, "Israel's response would be disproportionate and potentially destabilizing."

Myth #10: Arabs have always been hostile toward Jews who come to their countries.

Reality: Reaction was mixed. Some were openly supportive:

"The return of these exiles [jaliya] to their homeland will prove materially and spiritually an experimental school for their [Arab] brethren who are with them in the fields, factories, trades and all things connected to the land." —Hussein Ibn-Ali, who was sheriff of Mecca in 1918.

As more Jews moved in, things got worse between the two groups. Arabs were afraid of what this would mean, which led to riots in 1920, 1921, 1929, and 1936–1939.

Myth #11: Most Israelis are crazy religious people who live there because they believe God told them to.

Reality: Only 65% of Israeli Jews believe in God, while 80% of Americans do. Why are you there if you don't have a god to give you the land? Because of these things: (1) Many were trying to escape persecution in their home countries; (2) Many wanted to live in a place with a lot of Jews; and (3) Many were born there. I've heard that this is why Israel is somewhat socialist: many people moved there because they wanted to live on communes with other idealistic Communists. If you were born in Israel in 1950, you would be 60 years old now. You could have lived your whole life there and only know what your parents tell you about other countries. No one born in 1990 would know anything about the "old country" without asking their grandfather.

Religious nutjobs definitely exist, and they're the reason Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated when he made great strides toward peace through land concessions. They thought it sacrilege that would deny Jews their "biblical heritage", and depicted Rabin in a Nazi uniform at rallies.

But mostly the population of Israel live largely secular lives and have high regard for SCIENCE. They look on at our Intelligent Design debate with amusement.