Read the Wikipedia entry on Israel, it has a great one-page summary of the history of the territory and the historical concept of a Jewish state. As Mike D. pointed out, Jews have been there (in various numbers) for several thousand years. They survived persecution by the Romans (including, if you believe the story, the attempt of the Romans to kill a little Jewish boy named Jesus), they survived the Caliphates, the Crusaders, the Ottomans, and various other groups who stampeded through over the centuries.
Read the recent history around the creation of the modern state of Israel and what you will see is that the Jews and the Arabs were meant to live side by side- in a first plan in one state, then in a second UN-sponsored plan, in two. Both sides negotiated hard, but the Arabs stopped negotiating and declared war after the creation of the state of Israel. That is where the current dispute starts. During the conflict, Israel captured big chunk of what would have been the Palestinian state under the two-state plan (a plan, btw, that was never accepted by the surrounding Arab states). Israel captured further territory when it was attacked again in 1967 and 1973. My point is that, if you disregard the historical claims of all parties and only address the modern state of Israel, it boils down to this: 1. The United Nations negotiated a plan to divide the territory into two states 2. The Jewish Authority accepted the plan 3. The surrounding Arab states all voted against the plan in the U.N. 4. When the vote went against the Arab states, they bailed out on the U.N. and attacked Israel. 5. In the last 60 years Israelis have defended themselves against armed aggression by Arab states and non-state actors like the PLO, Hamas, Hebollah, and Islamic Jihad. 6. In that defense, Israelis have occasionally curtailed civil rights and property rights, stepped on the authority of the PA, even briefly occupied a section of southern Lebanon in an attempt to build a security buffer. Civil rights advocates could take issue with any of these things, but none are any more extraordinary than steps that other free nations, including the U.S., have taken during times of conflict. 7. Despite their serious military capabilities, the Israelis have never tried to fight an offensive war against any of their neighbors. 8. Israelis have consistently eschewed fighting in favor of negotiation. 9. Arabs have consistently eschewed negotiation in favor of fighting. 10. Palestinians have waged a media war in the last two decades to portray themselves as the victims of Israeli aggression. The fool of a woman sitting in front of Bush's ranch in Crawford with a sign saying "Israel out of Palestine" is a perfect example of someone who has swallowed the Palestinian spin without understanding the facts of the conflict. I believe the Palestinians used the historical name Palestine (from the Roman Syria Palestina, which is derived from Greek for philistine- man I love Wikipedia) to try to strengthen their claim to the territory, but when you read the facts, it turns out a third of the "Palestinians" were Jews, and 70% of "Palestinian" land was owned by the government. Moreover, the Arab Israeli conflict, started when the U.N. had only just been born, represents the total failure of multilateralism through the United Nations. >I don't quite understand the whole deal: > >- Who occupied the land before Israel was created? I mean RIGHT before >Israel was created, not in the BC? >- Were the Palestinians moved from the Gaza Strip in order to create Israel? > > > > >Matthew Small ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:169448 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
