Essential reading on The Nakba and Israel is Efraim Karsh's "Palestine Betrayed". Here is a review of the book, including interview with Karsh:

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/detail/continue-reading-1948-palestine-betrayed

Aw Leah,

Karsh is such a spoilsport trying to disrupt a glorious global hate movement with something as mundane as the facts. And to do it with such a well written and well documented book puts him beyond the pale.

But, never fear, hatred trumps the facts any day. True believers are not going to let the facts change the politically correct narrative.

Of course you are right Steven, but the real tragedy is that all that hatred doesn't help the Palestinians still classified as refugees 64 years on one bit.

While my family lives mostly in Israel - most for hundreds and some apparently thousands of years (yes, my own family are that supposedly mythical people: Jews indigenous to the Land of Israel!) - I feel not guilt, but rather tremendous sympathy for the Palestinian people and a strong desire to see a resolution for them which would allow my people to continue as well.

Not one at the expense of the other, the two in parallel. There is a dearth of visionary leadership in both Palestine and Israel. Israeli leaders need to commit more to resolving the social and economic inequities among its citizens: Jewish and Arab. Palestinian leaders need to recognise that the only way any Israeli government will return to the table is for them to accept and acknowledge that the Jewish people are there to stay. Israeli leaders have and will continue to compromise on land, if this fundamental recognition is forthcoming.

It's time for two states for two people, both of whom belong in the region. Time for recognition that half of Israel's population is or is descended from Jews expelled from Arab lands in 1948. They can't go back to their homes in Baghdad or Saana and equally, the Arab refugees from Haifa and Lod can't go back to theirs either. Dispossession happens in every war, in every region. And peole move forward - just look at the hundreds of thousands of Australians, including Vietnamese, Sudanese and Holocaust survivors who have never been able to return to their original homes but have rather moved on.

Both people deserve justice - the Palestinians have suffered far longer because their leaders gambled with their lives and lost. They deserve justice and new homes and a transparent leadership that will put their welfare first instead of the spewing of hatred against Israel, aided by the likes of Neve.

As Australians – of all races and backgrounds - we could all relate the situation in Israel and Palestine to the Aboriginal situation in our country:
Whilst Australia Day is celebrated, some commemorate it as ‘Invasion Day.’ Many may disagree with that, but would be even more outraged if the Government passed a law discriminating against users of that label.
We are beginning to acknowledge the mistreatment of their ancestors by our forefathers and the Government has apologised to the ‘Stolen Generation,‘ but equally we would not expect to hand back all of the land taken from Aboriginals in the course of history.
The reality is that historical facts have been distorted by all sides of both disputes.
Therefore, living as close neighbours, just as we should do in Australia, each group in the Middle East must acknowledge all the truth of the past, recognise and accept the presence of each other now, and then be pragmatic about securing a peaceful future.

The difference between Israel and Australia is that we are giving large tracts of land back to the Aborigines, whereas in Israel, land which rightly still belongs to the Arabs is being stolen by the Israeli settlers with the connivance of the Zionist government.

David