Five Israeli police officers were wounded, one seriously, during violent clashes with Arab residents on the eastern side of Jerusalem on Monday.

The confrontation followed a major police operation in the neighborhood of Shuafat the night before. Police officials said the operation was aimed at collecting illegal weapons and generally bringing order to a neighborhood that had been gripped by lawlessness. Twenty-five arrests were made.

But the imposition of law and order did not sit well with the Arab locals, who proceeded to attack the Border Police checkpoint that separates Shuafat from the rest of Jerusalem. The fighting escalated during the afternoon when Muslim schoolchildren joined in the assault.

Israeli forces later quelled the riot by using stun grenades and tear gas.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday declared that the land-for-peace formula for ending the Middle East conflict has failed and that the time has come to either trade peace for peace, or for Israel to defeat its enemies.

Speaking at a meeting of his Israel Beiteinu Party, Lieberman said, "It's time to forget our obsession with territory in exchange for peace; all future agreements must be based on 'peace in exchange for peace.'"

Lieberman is not the first Israeli official to point out that every land concessions Israel has made up until now has only resulted in increased violence and hostility on the part of the Arabs. In an interview that will appear in the upcoming issue of Israel Today, former Arkansas governor and US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said the same thing.

Lieberman continued by noting that the most important thing has always been, and must remain, the defense of Israel's right to exist.

"Peace is in fact our heart's desire, but it is not more important than Israel's existence as the state of the Jewish people or than lasting security for its citizens. We extend our hand in peace to enemies, but as long as they choose the path of war, we must be firm, return battle, and defeat the enemy," said Lieberman. "We must strive for victory instead of talking about possible compromise, interpreted as weakness by our enemies."

Lieberman's remarks have thrown Israel's left-wing opposition and left-wing parties that are in the current government into a frenzy. They insist that the true obstacle to peace is Lieberman himself, and that if their own policies of surrendering land were only given more time, peace could be achieved.

Most people in American are led to believe by the media that the Palestinian Arabs and the wider Arab world don't like Israel, but don't have any real problem with the US outside of its relations to the Jewish state.

What most people forget, however, is that Islam preaches dominance, military dominance, over all infidels, including "Christian" nations like America. Palestinian children being raised as Muslims have these lessons ingrained in their minds, making genuinely peaceful relations with the West, let alone Israel, little more than a pipe dream.

This was most recently demonstrated in the latest airing of the popular Palestinian children's television program Tomorrow's Pioneers on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV.

During the program, a young boy from the audience was called on to sing a song he had prepared. It went as follows:

"Daddy gave me a present, a machine gun and a rifle.
When I am a big boy, I will join the Liberation Army.
The army of [Izz Al-Din] Al-Qassam (Hamas),
which has taught us how to defend our homeland.
Our homeland is precious, precious.
We [are] victorious, victorious over America and Israel.
[Improvises:] Son of a bitch - what brought you to this land?"

Translation of the broadcast was provided by Palestinian Media Watch, which noted that Palestinian children are being successfully taught that "violence is the ideal means to solve conflict."

One of the top leaders of the Yemen-based branch of Al Qaeda urged fellow Muslims in an audio recording posted to the Internet this week to rise up in holy war against all Christians and Jews found in the Arabian Peninsula.

"The Christians, the Jews, and the treacherous apostate rulers have pounced on you...you have no other way out from this plight other than to wage jihad," declared Saeed al-Shehri, a former Saudi inmate at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Shehri today serves as the deputy commander of Al Qaeda forces in Yemen, a burgeoning base of operations for the terrorist network. Authorities in Yemen believed he had been killed in an air strike in December, but later announced they had been mistaken.

Former Alaska governor and US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Sunday sent a message to President Barack Obama that he can mend his failing popularity and ensure his chances of reelection in 2012 by standing firmly behind Israel and realizing that the time has arrived to resort to military options to thwart Iran's nuclear program.

Speaking on Fox News, Palin stated, "Say [Obama] decided to declare war on Iran or decided to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel - which I would like him to do - that changes the dynamics of what we can assume will happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, Obama would not be elected."

Indeed, a recent poll by Politico showed Obama being edged out by former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee if elections were held today. Newly-elected Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) has also been touted as a possible contender in 2012 due his being voted in on the strength of his opposition to Obama's health care plans.

Palin is also seen as a possible candidate, though even her own party has dragged her through the mud quite a bit over the past year.