why do the alleged "Palestinians" want Israel?
There's nothing "alleged" about the Palestinians. They're a real group of people who really exist and want the other half of their damn territory back. (Or, at the very least, they don't wish to be treated like prisoners in their own freakin' home.)
why are whole countries and ideologies so bent on the takeover or destruction of one country about the same size as the state of New Jersey?
Because of where the UN decided to stick it. I know where you're going with this, and there's nothing "divinely inspired" about any of it. God didn't "choose" anybody; God didn't "give" that piece of land to anyone in particular. It's just a strip of desert that borders the Mediterranean, that the Hebrews occupied once-upon-a-time thousands of years ago. Lemme tell you, Egypt and the Persians (Iran) and the Romans (Italy) could all lay claim to that piece of land, too, considering that all of them had it in their empires at one time or another.
why do so many hate the Jews?
I wouldn't say I hate Jewish people, but what I do find obnoxious is the prevailing attitude (which may not even be Jewish, BTW) that the Jews are somehow automatically more "special" than the rest of humanity because their god "chose" them long ago out of all the people in the Mideastern area. This assertion might carry weight if all of the other people around had also believed in the same god that the Hebrews did (although it would still be an arrogant thing to say), but nobody else did. So why would they or their descendants have any reason to acknowledge that claim?
Apparently this "specialness" or "chosen-ness" is often invoked to explain why the Israeli Jews should get a carte blanche on the heinous things they've done/are doing to the original inhabitants of Palestine. The Holocaust gets invoked this way, too, which really irritates me since Jews weren't the sole group that was persecuted by Hitler. Plus, it only serves to cheapen the actual horrific event that was indeed the Holocaust by using it as a tool to let a certain group of people have their way.
Anyway, you RaptureRetard types shouldn't even dare to be asking why anyone hates Jews, as you're the ones whose dogma says that once the Jews are in Israel, Jesus will come back and smite the shit out of them for not believing. And you're perfectly happy with that! Buncha backstabbers, is what you are. o:<
EDIT: Sorry for the rant. :)