The corresponding questions do not really correspond, and their possible usefulness is questionable. The supposed correspondence on the Middle East is notably lame.
I think the inability to come up with a great question about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict corresponds pretty well with the fact that there are no known good solutions to it (except the "if only they would..." kind of solutions.)
BTW, if it isn't clear, I am the author of the post.
I've lost my password for HN and can't see a way to recover, so I haven't been responding to HN comments on my posts. Anyhoo, caved and logged in using my Google id now...I am the same as lost-password vgr on some older threads. If someone can tell me how to recover my password, I'd appreciate it. Kinda like my vgr handle.