The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.
Rhrosty.

Ah yes another Singer clone

Oh dear. Am I missing the irony.

Its when Ryvchin says "The notion of refugee status being inherited and passed down in perpetuity is without parallel in international law. It is not applied to nor is it claimed by any other people"

Inherited refugee status is precisely the claim of "The Children of Israel" to the "Promised Land" which for most Jews then and now means Israel.

Since most Jews were kicked out of Israel by the Romans (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora#Dispersion_of_the_Jews_in_the_Roman_Empire ) most Jews lived as an unwanted, persecuted, group suffering from "Inherited refugee status".

Israel's current Law of Return precisely recognises Inherited refugee status - if they have Jewish blood that is.

So why aren't Palestinian descendants of those cast out after 1947 allowed the same right of Return?

Two claims to the same land can't be tendentiously simplified by recognising one claim but not the other - even if one claimant is armed with nuclear weapons. Or does might makes right clinch it?

I agree Plantagenet. In Israel there is one law for Jews and another for goyim .. non jew. I am so tired of hearing the antisemite tag .. Israel is on stolen land apart from that which was given to them by the UN.

The practice of appartheid, home demolitions, theft of water resources to Jews only, dentention of children, torture of prisoners, land theft, ethnic cleansing and basic murder of Palestinians cannot be covered over by your simplistic understanding of the FACTS.

Gazans are kept on a special diet imposed by Israel.. that keeps them just above malnutritian. Gaza is the largest open air illegal prison in the world. Electricity is used as a punishment again the Pals. Potable water is a huge problem. After Israel committed the war crimes of bombing a captive population in their CAST LEAD attack and the bombing of the most important infrastructure including sewerage,I can no longer read the type of anti-palestinian propaganda you have spewed forth in your article. I have been there, I have seen with my own eyes the horrific conditions for the Palestinian people whom this land legally belongs to. There are many facts left out of your story so as to cover the truth, and yes I am a an activist. How dare you belittle the activists who have paid dearly for standing up to Israel. Israels behaviour will ensure that it will be a state, even though it has no borders through the continual removal of Palestinians from their land, that does not last long in the modern world of the 21st century.
Israels appartheid, war crimes and human rights abuses will be told by myself and many other activists who have seen for themselves. Let us hope that Australians will one day wake up to the fact that Israel is not one of our friends or allies. Bob Carr only said what alot of us already know to be true and factual. ISRAEL is a dangerous rogue state. Best we keep an eye on the lobbying being done in this country.

Alexander, you forgot to mention 'Mr opportunity' (Yasser Arafat) in that he never failed to miss an opportunity to reach a lasting just peace for his people. (98% of Palestinian claims were offered, and received a NO). As you say, the Palestinian people are real, genuine victims, victims of their own leadership.

The land conquered by Israel is now Israeli land virtue of the fact that the people who tried to exterminate Israel are still it's enemies. Taking land and resources from those who make no bones about their intent to wipe you out is smart and practical. Hearing the Arabs complaining about Israel taking "Arab" land equates to the Nazis complaining about the Red Army invading and occupying Germany in 1945.

Israel took Gaza from Egypt in the 1967 war, and then gave it back to Egypt when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel. If the "Palestinians" want to stop the Israelis from taking any more "Palestinian" land from them, then the first thing they should do is recognise Israel's right to exist.

If they don't, then Israel is justified in taking more land from them and making them weaker.