Gee, maybe if people learned some more about the history of the region, then there wouldn't be so many ignorant comments about it. True, there were no muslims 2000 years ago. IIRC, Mohammed brought about Islam sometime around the year 600, give or take 50 years. But there still was religious violence in the region before that. And how do you think Islam was spread? By the sword, that's how. There was a period of about 150 years of wars to spread Islam, which spread to Turkey and southern France. The French, or Franks as they were at the time, managed to turn back the hoard at the battle of Tours, and the Byzantine Empire stopped Islam from spreading into Greece. If you don't believe me, here is a link.
http://www.carm.org/islam/islam_chronology.htm
After the expansion had stopped, there was infighting amongst those who practiced Islam, based along tribal lines. Then in 1095, Pope Urban II called for a cruade into the holy land, which sparked numerous wars and violence between the catholics, orthodox and muslims. This lasted for roughly 400 years. Then in the 17th century, the Turks invaded into Greece, which is why we now have the problems of Muslim vs Orthodox in the Balkans today. Then there are all the recent conflicts in the region in the past 100 years.
True, there hasn't been constant violence for 2000 years. But the promise of violence is always seething below the surface, and when it breaks, it's bloody, vicious, and merciless. My main point is that this is the region that spawned all three of today's modern western religions, and look at all of the violence that has been caused because of said religions. Yes, I know that even without religion, we humans would find reasons to kill each other, but when religion comes into play, people are more apt to flock to the banner of war, and commit heinous atrocities.
Of course, my comment about relocating the populace and eradicating the area was more born out of frustration than anything else, and I know it's very unrealistic. The way I see it, there will never be peace in the middle east.