debaser

Well, I'm sure the people whos homes were taken and lives ruined feel much better now that you have cleared up that there wasn't a country there to start with...

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Jews fled European anti-semitism and went to the only place they could go. Other countries were not allowing very many Jews in.

True, but did not the 6th Zionist conference decide that Argentina would be a perfectly acceptable substitute for Palestine? Also, even if this was the only place they could go (which it wasn't), does that make the Palestinian situation any more tenable?

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Actually, many Jews were emmigrating to the area throughout the 1800's. There have been more Jews than Muslims in Jerusalem since the 1840's. There was no goal of moving people, just to settle land that was empty which was most of it. In the 1800's there was less than 300k people in the entire area.

No, Israel was created as a result of the Balfour Declaration, which was a direct result of the Zionist movement. As I stated before, Jews were not settleing the land, they were living in cities when they arrived. I fail to see how the number of people in the area in 1800 has anything to do with the figures I posted above, other than attempt to obfuscate the fact that the Palestinians got screwed.

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The land was very much wide open. There already were Jews who had lived their throughout history and still were there. Jews were purchasing land from Arab owners to settle on. They were fleeing European persecution. If you think that there's not enough room for them there then maybe that says something about you.

And pray tell, what does it say about me?

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You're forgetting about Jordan which was created from the same land and was closed off to Jews. That nation is now 60% Palestinian and that percentage was higher before Arafat tried to overthrow King Hussein and he slaughtered 10,000 Palestinians in a couple months before kicking out Arafat and his PLO cronies. That 55% figure does not include Jordan.

Of course it doesn't. We are talking about Israel. TransJordan was already more than 95% arab, so I fail to see why it is even an issue. The 55% figure also didn't include Vietnam, Canada, or Zimbabwe.

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I think you're mixing things up. The population that is often alluded to becoming a majority within Israel over the next few decades are the Palestinian Arabs that live within Israel and are citizens. Not the ones on the West Bank & Gaza that are in the conflict. The Palestinians on the West Bank & Gaza will never become part of Israel to become a majority.

Nope. Palestinians are the fastest growing population segment in Israel. They will outnumber Jews by the year 2020.

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The economy was actually doing well before this mini-war started. Investment from Europe and aid from Israel, the US and Europe was bringing the Palestinian economy up. All that crashed after the fighting started.

Nope. They were just scraping by before the intifada. Existing on aid dollars does not an economy make. Israels insistence on destroying infrastructure ensure that the will be sucking at Israels tit for many years to come.

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And I don't believe that a rosy outlook plays any rols into whether Hamas & Islamic Jihad et al bomb buses or not. In the 1996 election campaign where Netanyahu (a hawk) was going against Peres (a dove), bus bombings occured daily while Peres was ahead in all polls. As more bombings went on, Peres kept sliding and Netanyahu crept up. He ended up winning the election purely because of the bombings. What did the Palestinians not get that they would have gotten if Peres had been elected? A country.

Well, thats handy for Likud, isn't it? Especially after they killed Rabin...

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If you look at the history, bombings actually went UP in the months after Oslo was signed. Do you know why? Because the perpetrators do not want 2 countries side by side. They want a single country with no Jews in it. Why is it that each time Israel pulls out of an area, there's a sudden rash of bombings? When Israel clamps down and re-occupies the area, bombings stop. The bombings have absolutely nothing to do with whether the Palestinians feel that they have hope. They are done by people who do not see peace as a good solution.

The harder Israel "clamps down" the more bombings there will be. Maybe not in the short term, but it radicalizes the entire Palestinian population.

The only thing I agree with in your post is the fact that there are factions on both sides that have a vested interest in seeing this conflict continue, be they arab terrorists (Hamas, Hezbollah), or jewish terrorists (settlers, right-wing extremists). This is the result of building a nation based on religion: your side is always right, without exception.

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