Do you support the aspirations of the Palestinian people? Are you aware, and want to make others aware, of how much they have been victimized by the events that have transpired since 1947? Do you want to convince others to embrace changes that will help their situation?
Then take my advice on how to communicate without making people who don't already agree with you dismiss you outright. Take my advice on how to encourage people to actually read your diaries. Take my advice on how to avoid wars and pie fights.
Please clean up your language.
See, whether or not you realize it, a lot of the rhetoric you use is basically equivalent to holding up a giant sign that says 'please ignore me'. If you are trying to persuade people, you are currently doing a poor job.
If you would just avoid some of the ridiculous buzzwords and loaded talking points that are thrown around, you would have so many more people considering your viewpoint, and I believe a more civil discussion here.
Here is a list:
Genocide. The Palestinians are suffering, and their national aspirations have been frustrated for almost a century. But, as bad and tragic as their situation is, they are not victims of a genocide. And your usage of the term is offensive and insulting to ethnic groups that actually have been the victims of a genocide. Do you know what genocide is? It is the attempt to eliminate a particular group by killing as many of them as you can. As bad as they have it, there are several times as many Palestinians in the occupied territories as there were in 1967 when Israel took over, and the territories have some of the highest rates of natural population increase in the world. This has to be the most ineffective 'genocide' ever.
Racism / Racist Israeli behavior toward the Palestinians and neighboring Arab nations is motivated by many things, from fear to ethnocentrism to religious fundamentalism to lust for land to political calculations - but "racism" isn't one of them. First of all, it is hard to argue that the Palestinians are of a different race than the Israelis. If I put the average Palestinian and the average Israeli in front of you wearing the same clothes I'll bet you couldn't tell the difference. Except for the fact that Israel has some black people. But beyond that, I know you would like to link the Palestinians with situations faced by black Americans and others, but it just ain't happening. The Jews and Arabs are two people that have been engaged in an intense conflict over land for 100 years - no racism need be invoked to explain these antagonisms.
Apartheid You can argue that Israel is engaged in a wrong and violent expansionist policy in the occupied territories, but it is not an "apartheid" state. Do you know what apartheid is? It was the system in South Africa where there were different levels of citizenship for the different races. As for the situation in Israel, about 20% of the citizens of Israel are not Jewish. Most of those are Arab, and they are both Muslim and Christian. They have all of the same rights as Jewish citizens, except they are not required to serve in the army. They travel freely, have free expression and a free press, and have members in the parliament. Israeli Arabs, in fact, enjoy the most political freedoms of any Arabs in the Middle East. Now as for the territories, the Palestinians in the West bank are under a partial military occupation and are in danger of losing additional land, but it ain't apartheid. It is a military occupation. As for Gaza, it is under a crippling Israeli economic embargo, but not a military occupation or apartheid.
Zionism / Zionist Zionism is one of those words that has come to mean many different things to many different people. What it originally meant was the notion that the Jewish people should have a Jewish majority state like most other ethnic groups. If you are opposed to that, just come out and admit what you are opposed to. To a lot of people who like to post here, 'Zionist' has become shorthand for everything they don't like in the world, or a way of saying "Jewish" without really saying it. If you are referring to something related to Israel, whether the government, culture, or people, the proper adjective is Israeli. None other is appropriate.
Cabal / conspiracy As someone stated previously in a recommended diary here, this is an offensive concept which began with The Elders of Zion and other anti-semitic conspiracy theories. You can disagree with their opinions or perspectives or actions, but the people who comprise the Israeli government, and the people who make up the various facets of pro-Israel opinion in the United States, are just some people. As far as persuading public and political opinion in the US goes, they are currently more effective than their opposition. They are not engaged in a plot to take over the world, or to take over the United States government, or to poison and eat little babies. Just drop it.
the nuclear question Please stop implying that Israel having nuclear weapons is in the same league as Iran having nuclear weapons. Iran is run by crazy fundamentalist freaks who think the world ending would be a positive development. Israel is run (at least for now) by secular rationalists with degrees from MIT and Stanford. Say what you will about the policies they pursue, but the people who run Israel love life more than they hate their enemies. The same cannot be said about the people who run Iran.
guilt by association Yes, Neocons, Christian fundamentalists, and the religious right here in the US often have rabidly pro-Israel viewpoints. But so what? That has exactly zero bearing on what is right and what is wrong as far as the I/P conflict goes. A list of people who have opposed Israel could begin with Stalin and end with Bin Laden, but you don't see folks citing those people to discredit the Palestinian cause.
And lastly... it would be nice to have an acknowledgement here and there that Israelis have suffered and been frustrated too. I see so many posts from people with what would be classified as a 'pro-Israeli' viewpoint that take pains to state that they support peace and a two state solution. However, I rarely see the same from posts that would be classified as coming from a 'pro-Palestinian' viewpoint. If you want a two state solution, an eventual peace, and believe that Israel has a right to exist as a country in some form, then come out and say it explicitly - that will go a long way toward having people like me consider your ideas. If you don't support those things, then come out and say that, and don't hide behind words like I have listed above.
As for me, in case you want to know, I support Israel's right to exist in peace and security as a Jewish majority state roughly within the 1967 borders, and I support an independent, separate, secure, viable, democratic state for the Palestinians. I think that Israel is exercising relative restraint given the situation they constantly find themselves in, and support in principle their right of self defense as a nation. If you want to convince me, and others like me, to change our perspective to something else, you are not currently doing a good job.
I want to see a better dialogue on the I/P situation. I'm letting you know that throwing offensive and sloppy rhetoric at us is not helping your case.
(I respectfully request that you not comment without reading at least most of what I have written.)
UPDATE: Well, it's been 200 comments and I have to go now. I must say that I have tried, but I have apparently failed, to get my notions across. There is a lot of hostility here - even the incoherent comment that threw three F-bombs at me got uprated. If I may be frank, I sadly conclude what many people have suggested and what I have always resisted, that a few of you hate Israel more than you actually love the Palestinians. Do you want to improve the situation for the Palestinians? I do. I want them to have a safe, independent, democratic country, alongside Israel. I'll attempt to say it again - if you want to improve their situation, you aren't going to do it by lobbing rhetoric at people who believe Israel has a right to exist. Your job is to convince people who don't already agree with you.