ChestyP
Member
Whose land is it, anyway?
Throughout history there have been displaced peoples and invaders. Very few of today's borders existed 1,000 years ago... on any continent. You draw a line somewhere and learn to live with it. As the Ottoman empire fell (over a century) countries were created that had never existed, or that existed hundreds of years before.
The Palestinians claim the right to the land based on the past few hundred years' history (under the Ottomans). The Israeli's claim goes back a few thousand years. But who was there before them? Three quarters of the world's ills are caused by people who want to redraw the map at their favorite point in history. Look at Armenia, Kurdistan and Turkey. Back in the 70s (in Beirut of all places), Armenian and Kurdish terrorists formed an alliance to fight the horrible Turks. But do away with modern Turkey and try to recreat historic Armenia and historic Kurdistan and they'd overlap each other and be at each other's throats.
Back to the curren topic: today's conventional wisdom is that all the Palestinians want is the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and old Jerusalem. Just a home of their own. The PLO was formed in 1964. In 1964, Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip, and Jordan the West Bank and Jerusalem. Why didn't they just give it to the Palestinians? End of problem.
The Arab confrontation states (and others) kept the Palestinians penned up in refugee camps, where they had nothing to do but breed children and hatred. Organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah are the product.
There are at least three Arab members of the Israeli Knesset. How many Jews are mebers of the Egyptian parliament? The Lebanese parliament? The Syrian parliament? The Saudi parliament? Even the new Iraqi parliament? Zero. Zip. Nil. Nada.
For the record, I am not Jewish. I have lived in and traveled extensively in Arab countries and have visited Israel on several occasions, both in an official capacity and as a tourist with a deep interest in history.
Also for the record, do away with Israel tomorrow and there would still be war in the Middle East, with Arab against Arab, and Arabs against Persians.
Throughout history there have been displaced peoples and invaders. Very few of today's borders existed 1,000 years ago... on any continent. You draw a line somewhere and learn to live with it. As the Ottoman empire fell (over a century) countries were created that had never existed, or that existed hundreds of years before.
The Palestinians claim the right to the land based on the past few hundred years' history (under the Ottomans). The Israeli's claim goes back a few thousand years. But who was there before them? Three quarters of the world's ills are caused by people who want to redraw the map at their favorite point in history. Look at Armenia, Kurdistan and Turkey. Back in the 70s (in Beirut of all places), Armenian and Kurdish terrorists formed an alliance to fight the horrible Turks. But do away with modern Turkey and try to recreat historic Armenia and historic Kurdistan and they'd overlap each other and be at each other's throats.
Back to the curren topic: today's conventional wisdom is that all the Palestinians want is the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and old Jerusalem. Just a home of their own. The PLO was formed in 1964. In 1964, Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip, and Jordan the West Bank and Jerusalem. Why didn't they just give it to the Palestinians? End of problem.
The Arab confrontation states (and others) kept the Palestinians penned up in refugee camps, where they had nothing to do but breed children and hatred. Organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah are the product.
There are at least three Arab members of the Israeli Knesset. How many Jews are mebers of the Egyptian parliament? The Lebanese parliament? The Syrian parliament? The Saudi parliament? Even the new Iraqi parliament? Zero. Zip. Nil. Nada.
For the record, I am not Jewish. I have lived in and traveled extensively in Arab countries and have visited Israel on several occasions, both in an official capacity and as a tourist with a deep interest in history.
Also for the record, do away with Israel tomorrow and there would still be war in the Middle East, with Arab against Arab, and Arabs against Persians.
