So where does this leave Israel, which acquired about a third of its territory by military conquest, and is occupying - through military force - a similar amount of territory in the West Bank, and is blockading Gaza?

As for the rest of what Singer says, doesn't the policy (charter?) of the Likud party "call for" the incorporation of Palestinian territory into Israel? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Most of what Singer says about Palestinian liberation movements could have equally been said about the French or Czech resistance movements in WW2. Including that they were involved in some pretty nasty - and maybe unwise - incidents of violence. But their actions - in general - were justified by the rightness of the cause of freeing their land from foreign military occupation.

Legally speaking, David Singer is perfectly right. Nevertheless, it would be in Israel's advantage to have Palestine become a state and a recognized UN member - that will help it to get rid of its crippling occupation as well as make the Palestinians more accountable with more to lose if they attack Israel.

I think that even Netanyahu would secretly welcome such move, although of course he could not say that openly in his internal-political situation.

The Palestinians will be the losers - most ordinary Palestinians, the silenced majority, prefer to live under Israeli rule, bad as it is, because it's not as bad, cruel and corrupt, as their own.

The requisite conditions are five in number: to be admitted to membership in the United Nations, an applicant must (1) be a State; (2) be peace-loving; (3) accept the obligations of the Charter; (4) be able to carry out these obligations; and (5) be willing to do so

Condition 2 should rule out Israel for a start. Don't get so high and mighty David.

David T.

In my laptop's Free (medical) Dictionary by Farlex, projection is defined as:
An unconscious defense mechanism by which a person attributes to someone else unacknowledged ideas, thoughts, feelings, and impulses that they cannot accept as their own;
The attribution of one's own attitudes, feelings, or desires to someone or something as a naive or unconscious defense against anxiety or guilt;
In psychiatry, an unconscious defense mechanism whereby emotionally unacceptable traits are denied in oneself and are regarded (projected) as belonging to the external world or to someone else. It is often called the “blaming” mechanism because in using it the person seeks to place the blame for personal inadequacies upon someone else. In its extreme form projection can lead to hostility and physical attack upon others when one mistakenly perceives other persons as responsible for one's own mental anguish;
In psychology an unconscious defense mechanism by which an individual attributes his or her own unacceptable traits, ideas, or impulses to another. It is noted in some stages of schizophrenia

There are not many UN member countries that would survive the admission criteria test. That includes USA - a prominent war monger state. Remember the contrived story about the Weapons of Mass Destruction? That would also exclude them from membership.
Israel's surreptitious and secretly developed atomic bomb and other weapons Should exclude them from the membership of UN. Why were you not so loud in questioning Israel's war mongering attitude David?

Seems everyone here, but you David, wants to see Palestine admitted to the UN.

Why doesn't that overwhelming aversion to your view cause you to sit down and reconsider your position David?

That's the logical and reasonable course of action. We call it re-evaluation.

That's how we Wesrern Liberal Democrat's behave.

It's is behaviour apparently foreign to Israel and it's propagandists.

We are all watching Israel and it's propagandists trashing the way we Westerners act and the next step is for us to start askig whether Israel really is committed to Western Liberal values and behaviours.