Advocating for an accord is therefore not the "bullied kid hoping the bully picks on them last," but an observer realizing that the Palestinians aren't a schoolyard bully that can be dealt with by schoolyard bully tactics.

I agree. If you want to use the "schoolyard bully" analogy (which isn't the best fit), Israel has been the one acting more like the bully recently. They keep taking stuff from the Palestinians and the Palestinians fight back.

As a slightly disinterested observer who is definitely on the outside, there are times when it feels like an adult needs to step in between these two, send them into their rooms for a while to think about it, then drag them out after a bit of cooling off and force them to start talking about their problems instead of fighting.

Getting out of the analogies, I want to see the fighting stop. The only practical way for that to happen quickly is for someone stronger to step in and make them stop. But that's going to put someone's military in the way of some significant harm. The Israelis are quite well armed and may not want to stop fighting. That leaves negotiations, which are very hard to do when both sides would prefer to fight than negotiate.

The best I can hope for from a US policy standpoint is to stop supplying either side with arms. All anyone gets is humanitarian aid: food, water, medical supplies. But good luck with that - it's tantamount to taking profits away from the military industry.

--Peter