@ asho

**None of this Beduoin bashing addresses
the real complaint of the authors - the distinction
between jews and others beng pursued so purposefully
by political leaders of Israel.
Why then do Australian governments support
Israel ?**

Because it isn't true, pure and simple. I urge you to go to Israel for a holiday, you will have your eyes opened and see the truth for what is.
The loony left need a cause and why they choose the only democracy in the ME is anyone's guess

Dear SF,

My god! That is just utterly shameless.

Did you really have the gall to ask "Can you name any country in the world which allows people to build illegally on government owned land?" in defense of Israel's actions?

Forgive me but that is one of the most brazen things I have read in a long time. The Israeli government allows illegal Jewish settlements to be constructed on another peoples land in direct violation of the Geneva Convention, UN resolutions, and International Law!

The word hypocrisy doesn't come within a bull's roar of describing what you have posted.

@ csteele
Israel is not building illegally on land that belongs to anyone else. The Arabs have NEVER claimed any land.

They have refused since 1948 when they choose to go to war rather than accept the decision to partition Palestine between its Jewish and Arab populations.

1967 Israel offered the land in exchange for peace.
The Arab world’s response issued at a summit in Khartoum, was not 1 no, but 3

“No peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel."

2000, Camp David offered Arabs a sovereign state with shared control of Jerusalem and billions of dollars in compensation for Arab refugees. Arafat refused and launched the deadly terror war, the Second Intifada.

2008 Olmert offered Abbas a peace agreement that would have guaranteed a Palestinian state in virtually all Judaea, Samaria, Gaza, and part of Jerusalem. Again the Arabs turned down the offer.

Check out UN Resolution 242, which allows Israel to control and use any of the land between the Jordan River and the sea. International Law which says land acquired during a war which was an act of aggression can be retained

There is nothing in Resolution 242 that forbids construction of settlements in Judaea and Samaria by Israel.

Israel is not an “occupier” in Judaea and Samaria.
The word “occupation” is bandied about regularly. The PA/PLO have adopted the idea of Israel as “occupier” as a mantra and much of the world has accepted it. But the facts tell us something else.
Judaea and Samaria were (and still are) unclaimed Mandate land, to which Israel has the strongest claim.

Legally, occupation only occurs when one nation moves into the land of another. But there was no nation legally sovereign in Judaea and Samaria before 1967 — Jordan’s presence there was not legal.

Settlements only occupy 1.7% of Judaea and Samaria. Arab built up areas cover 40% and over 50% is empty. It has always be understood any land which has been used for Israeli housing will be part of any land deal IF the Arabs ever decide to make a deal.

Thanks SF
im told Israel is expensive. What will I find there?
Will i get to understand how the Palestinians
feel about the Prawer Plan?
How do you think they feel?

This is now my last post for 24 hour. Stupid ruling.!!

The Prawer Plan has nothing at all to do with the fictitious Palestinians. It has to do with Bedouin who are illegal squatters. Israel has built amazing towns for them, but they would rather squat illegally and cause massive pollution to the land than pay taxes.

I went to Israel last year for the first time and was on a very tight budget and I am a Coeliac, which makes eating more difficult and it wasn't expensive at all. I was very surprised how cheap the tours were compared to others countries I've been to. I didn't find public transport expensive either.

Where is a contemporary Rabbi Hillel to be found when he is so much needed in our time?

"Do not unto others etc..."

How the C-19th Zionist thinkers right across the board would turn in their graves if they were to see what their visions of the Judenstaat, or whatever other name one wants to call it, have turned into.

How sad it makes me when I reflect upon the early years after the 1967 Six Day War when living there was a constant renewable tonic, confident, alive, just and humanely enlightened, and less given to ministerial misdemeanours, sectarian privilege and disregard of minority rights, this anti-Bedouin legislation being the appalling latest in the series.