Well Strewth.. after all this banter, maybe its a good time to expose a bit of self here. It might assist in knowing where you are coming from. Me-Ancestry English/Scottish, about 4th gen Aussie. Conservative protestant evangelical by religious persuasion.

Re Lebanon's war.. I am aware of the attack on the bus, as the Maronites suspected (quite speculative I suppose) the gunmen were Palestinian. I wasn't deliberately ignoring it, but making the point of the 'actual' trigger.

One aspect you seem to be missing here, is that this problem has earlier precedents. The formation of Lebanon by the French was flawed.
They included some Shia provinces which tipped the demographic balance against the Maronites of Mt Lebanon, so if we are to blame someone perhaps we can blame the French for ill advised colonial practices.

If it were not the gunmen killing the 4 Maronites, or the Maronites killing the Palestinians in the bus, 'something' would have been like the proverbial spark in a tinderbox eventually. I suppose that was a war they 'had' to have, given that humans are not good at getting along and sharing with 'others'. What surprises me in all that goings on is that the Syrians were pretty much on the Maronites side, something I was not aware of until further reading recently.

On the UN resolution, u are forgetting what the UN 'is'. Its a power balance with a security council. 194 is a 'general assembly' resolution not a security council one. If the security council says jump, of course u say 'how high' if the GA says jump you say "hmm.. if I feel like it"

Your reference to 'International Law' I find lacking validity, mainly because it is all subject to the interests and power of the security council,
If you deny God as absolute authority, you are left with 'might is right' and most nations-states know this and act on it.
Personally I don't ever see a political solution to the problem, only a 'final' one. You need to delve into Genesis/Exodus etc right up to Revelation to appreciate why.

You're speaking to the hand, B.

Dear Stewth’s hand,

Up until AD70, the Israelites lived and ruled most of what is today described as Palestine, though during the peaks of David and Solomon’s kingdoms their rule extended considerably further.

70 Roman The Romans conquer Jerusalem
132-136 Roman Jewish revolt under Bar Kochba; final defeat of Judah and loss of political sovereignty, rename area to "Palestine" **
351 Roman Jewish revolt to end foreign rule; Roman Empire adopts Christianity.
395 Turkish Palestine part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, still called Judea or Judah.
438 Turkish Empress Eudocia allows Jews back to Temple site, misinterpreted by Jews as return to nationhood.
614 Iran Persian conquest under Chosroes (with the support of a Jewish army).
628 Turkish "Palestine" reconquered by the Byzantines
633-637 Syrian Arab conquest; shortly afterward, attempt by Jews to restore their nation.
639 Syrian Muawiyah Arab governor.
660 Syrian Muawiyah is made the first Omayyad Caliph of Damascus.
661 Syrian Murder of Ali; Omayyad Dynasty begins.
750 Iraq Last Omayyad Caliph defeated; reign of the Abbassid Caliphs of Baghdad (Persian, Turk, Circassian, Kurd).

Now, even during the time of the divided kingdom of Israel (“Samaria” and Judah), many ‘outsiders’ who came in and expressed a desire to intermarry with the Israelites, it is highly improbable that any Canaanites are left at all let alone identifiable.

Philistines (formerly from Phoenecia and Crete) are possibly still present in Gaza and maybe in Ashdod and Ashkelon which were traditionally ruled by Philistines during that period.

The bottom line, is that any idea of ‘indigenous’ people of Palestine is purely historical fantasy and would depend on which period one begins such an assessment.

Transmigration and economic opportunism by conquering powers is a standard characteristic of colonial activity, the idea that there is any Canaanite or pure ‘Palestinian’ (whatever that is) indigenous population is simply untenable.
I present Christ Jesus to you, Messiah, Lord, Redeemer, Savior and King. Seek citizenship in the kingdom of Heaven, be born again through repentance and faith in Him and be renewed in your mind and heart –“home” will be in Him, wherever u are

Bozo, You're no historian (Surprise, surprise! The Syrians were in bed with the Lebanese Maronites!), so don't go there. Look, it's really very simple: Palestine throughout history was always a melting pot and the present day Palestinian Arab population are the result of that melting pot. That is what makes them the indigenous population of Palestine. The present Ashkenazi settler population came from Europe quite recently and have about as much right to refer to themselves as indigenes as you or I have in relation to the aboriginal population of Australia. Hopefully, one day, the apartheid structures, based on an anachronistic ethno-religious exclusivism, that underpin the colonial-settler state called Israel will peacefully give way to the old Palestinian melting pot of yore. It happened in South Africa. It'll happen in Palestine. Not that any of this means anything to you of course. When's your rapture due?

Strewthy....

1/ 'BOZO'
2/ "You are no historian"

'a weak argument is usually accompanied by ad hominems' :)

I don't actually recall claiming to be a'Historian' in the formal sense, which I presume you are accusing me of not being..... ?

What I am, is an observer of history and current affairs and view them from the perspective I outlined in my bio I the last post.

Of course, while I am clearly 'biased' :) you are squeeky clean ...right ?

At least (and at long last) we are on the same PAGE..... agreeing now quite comfortably on one point.. that the area has been a melting pot for centuries.

But then you go off the rails.. claiming that the outcome of this melting pot is then the 'indigenous' population. Well, yes, as in the last physical manifestation of the melting process.

But here is where we differ. You seem to select that point of history as your reference, neglecting that this point itself and your chosen status quo is based on the very same power struggles which are going on right now.

You rail against the 'now' but you heroically support the 'then', yet they have the same foundation 'power stuggles'. I don't find any greater legitimacy of one over the other, in the philosophical sense.
Could it be that there is a litre or 2 of Arab Muslim blood flowing in your veins ? or ur married to one such person ? :) Or.. you just live in the lefty world of 'speaking much' but 'saying little' where the true agenda is nothing to do with that which you are verbose about. (I've been around moit)

So, given the above, you should have no 'moral' issue with my theological understanding of the unfolding of events. You might disagree with it, or roll around the floor laughing.. but thats ok, I'm not out to 'cause it' to happen, just to point to what I believe is.

Arguing against my view will not stop it happening if it is of God. The question is 'are you' (of Him) ?

Strewth,

If you don't like colonizing, you should go back to England (or wherever your ancesstors came from). You will find however, that anywhere people live today on earth, their ancesstors have at some stage colonized others. If that is wrong, then it is wrong for us to be alive.

Today, the ones who are most threatening to colonize and rule the world are the Arabs: they already declared their desire to include northern Australia in their Islamic state, but can you believe that once they have it, their Jihad would stop at that? or is it that you wish to be personally thrown into their one-directional lowest-common-denominator melting pot and replace the Australian way of live - however you may consider it deficient, with theirs, this Lebanease violent chaos you were just discussing, who cares how it started?

Well, I guess you would not be happy to see the Arabs marching into Australia with their green Jihad banners, "convert to Islam or die", but you probably think "what the heck, it will not be in my generation".

I can understand that you could not care less about those for whom the Arab-Islamic danger is more imminent, that you cannot perceive them as civilized modern people and families like us who deserve to live and so you would rather happily sacrifice them to gain a few more years of comfortable lifestyle here.

Nevertheless, those who are in imminent danger know how to protect themselves on their own, even without your help, and they will continue doing so despite your cowardice. They guard your front lines for you while you throw tomatoes at them: it may make them dirty and red, but they will end up with your tomato juice.

BTW, your assumption as if Israel's existence is "based on an anachronistic ethno-religious exclusivism" is completely misguided. Yes, there is a minority there who thinks this way, but they definitely did not make it in last week's elections. The majority are people who just want to live their lives peacefully.