& All of this occurred "out of thin air & had nothing to do with US Foreign policy". I have a Harbour Bridge to sell to anyone who follows this line of thought.
There is a great correlation between the Syrian Occupation of Lebanon & The Israeli Occupation of Gaza & The West Bank. Lebanon & Israel came into conflict after Syria allowed Hezbellah & the PLO to attack Israel form Lebanese territory, then used the predicted Israli intervention to justify their occupation of the country.
Most people aren't even aware of this "occupation" due to "occidentalists & anti semite" propoganda, which has fostered a belive that the only illegal occupation in the Middle East has been perpetrated by Israel.
The same attitude was displayed regarding the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in that not one Middle Eastern country objected to the Soviet Invasion (Bar Israel, of course). [read Bernard Lewis's The Crises Of Islam Ch6 "Satan & The Soviets"].

To hear talk about Syria being in violation of UN resolutions without mention of the fact Israel has occupied Syrian territory for almost 40 years in defiance of the UN, is pure propaganda.

In fact the entire article never mentioned Israel once! This is willfully ignoring a bull in a china shop.

Why can Israel do as it pleases while the rest of the world is suppose to abide by the law?

Maybe I'm being too harsh. I notice Leanne Piggott works at USyd. With the lack of permanent tenure and limited opportunities for promotion, perhaps I wouldn't offend the powerful Jewish lobby either (ashame about acedemic freedom though).

Josh, read the article again, it was about SYRIA, not Israel!!

Why should any discussion about the Middle East be qualified about a discussion about Isreal.

[Deleted for bad language].

JOSH,

When the UN Partitioned Palestine in 1948 & created BOTH THE STATE OF ISRAEL & PALESTINE, One side accepted the UN's decision, the other declared war & invaded! & have carried on the same way ever since. The same team that CHOSE THE PATH OF WAR, now uses the very same UN Resolutions to justify their actions.
There was a UN Resolution that preceeded the 1967 War. The Palestinians ignored it, yet you expect Israel to respect the UN resolution but don't apply the same measure of rule to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian people supported Germany in both World Wars, yet cry 'colonialism' by the West at every given oppurtunity.
I once had to explain to an Iraqi that the 'Ottoman Empire' was colonialism. To take it a step further, I then had to explain why it was legal for Britian to partition Palestine in 1920's...THE ARABS WERE THE KAISERS ALLIES JOSH. They lost the War, therefore they & their allies lose their territories.

Anyhow Josh, the big one for you now mate.
"What would happen to the land tenure question Palestine if we simply applied the Australia Native Title Act to solve the problem".....
Bye Bye Arabs. The Jewish artifacts lie deepest in the strata. Alasqa mosque in built ON TOP OF the temple of Jerusalem.

[Deleted for flaming].

A discussion of Syria has quickly become discussion of Israel. I'd like to consider a different issue. I think Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are all relics, mostly inventions of the colonial powers and are simply the result of the carve up initiated during the Paris treaties in 1919. They should all go. Why hang onto an artificial state like Iraq? Why can they all be amalgamated into one large Arab state? The reason is of course that the various dictatorships that run these relics would oppose that to the death. Nonetheless, a revolution in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere would rid the world of these corrupt leftovers and pave the way for Arab prosperity. That prosperity for ALL Arabs - not just the elites.

A democratic, pan-Arab state would also be in a position to tell the US and other interfering powers to go to hell. Now, I'm realistic enough to know this won't happen anytime soon. But then, recent history shows that some things we thought would never happen actually happened sooner than we thought.

The 'Country' of Syria is mentioned constantly during the campaign of 1096 - 99 during the Crusade of Saint-Gilles. As too is Egypt. Agree except for Whabbism.
The official religion of Saudi Arabia, & the reason why democracy must go to war with this perversion of Islam.