Pennington

Sorry for the threadjack, but I can't let this pass.

There is no Palestine
Before the zioist movement, the area that is now Israel was called Palestine. When Israel declared itself independet in 1948, there were areas of Palestine that remained in Arab hands. After the Six Day War, these lands were occupied by Israel, which refuses them the right to vote or to form govenment. The Arabs in these lands are obviously upset about the occupation and want to delcare independence. Since they can't very well declare that they are to be called Jordan or soemthing similar, they decide to use the term that has described thier land for centuries.

Basically, Palestine was there before the modern Isreal and now they are using the name to reestablish that state and identity in the areas of the old Palestine that are not apart of Israel.

And if it is 'occupied territory, it's Israel's to do with what they please.

Iraq is now occupied territory of America, does that mean we can indefinatly prevent those in Iraq from forming a government to maintain basic needs, such as food, water and power? Does that mean we can run tanks through Iraq and bulldoze homes 45 years after the war ends? Does that mean that we can do whatever the hell we please in Iraq without fear of punishment? I don't think so.

I find it more interesting that the Israelis have offered to help clean up the refugee camps, bring them into the modern era, and the Palestinian leadership refuses every time.

Israel and Palestine are at war. If the Palestinians allowed the Israelis to come in and "clean up", eg - remove military leadership and suspected terrorist/freedom fighters and destroy the palestinian independence infrastruction, then Palestine would never gain independece and would never get the right to return. No wonder the leadership refuses this "help."