To set the scene, and do better understand the conflict between Valentine and Clary, you first have to understand what sparked Valentine's own hatred towards Downworlders. In the book, Luke explainins to Clary how Valentine eventually steped over the line of just "charismatic" to "crazy-obsessed". Valentine's father was killed by a werewolf, therefore he lumped all Downworld creatures to be murederous and untrusttworthy.
"Then came the night that Valentine's father was killed in a routine raid on a werewolf encampment,"
Luke goes on to explain how Valentine was never really the same after his father's death. This incident was the main fueling behind Valentine's hatred towards Downworlders. His wife, Jocelyn soon realized just how crazy he truly was, and attempted to stage a sort of coup with the help of her friend Luke, and his pack of werewolves (Luke was attacked by a werewolf, who was the pack's leader; according to their tradition, whoever kills the pack leader, can become the new leader, and that is how Luke acquired this pack). To get revenge on his wife, Valentine burned down Jocelyn's family estate, and with it her parents. She also found what she thought to be her baby son's bones in the ruins of the estate, as well.
This is why Clary hates Valentine so much. Not only was he seemingly crazy, but he had burned her mother's family alive. When she was presented with the idea of finding Valentine, she promptly requested that he not be spared; even though he IS her own father.
However, in the end of the book, all the characters who had their own personal scores to settle with Valentine (whose actions were in part fueled by hate and their seeking revenge) were unable to become satisfied, seeing as he escaped. Perhaps had they planned more carefully, and not caused their own vendettas and quests for revenge to blind them, they would have completed their mission successfully.
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