[ lol -Strewth I had a feeling a comment like that would bring you out of the woodwork ]

I would have thought that:
Given the a long history of mutual antipathy between the two peoples.
Given the importance each side places on maintaining its identity.
Given the inability or unwillingness of the Palestinian Authority to control its extremists.
Given the bloody failings of similar sharing of land & power arrangement,in Lebanon.
It would be a given, that the most practical ( & sensible solution)
would be a two state arrangement- and it's gratifying to see that Abbas agrees.

Horus, Your qualifications/excuses are one & all simply another way of justifying Israeli domination of Palestine and denying Israel's need to fess up and seek a genuine reconciliation with Palestine's indigenous population. Two-states might be an interim solution, but spell out what you mean by a Palestinian state. Let's call your bluff. Amaze us all by telling us you're FOR the dismantling of all Israeli settlements, the full and complete withdrawal of your heroes to the Green Line, and the handing over of East Jerusalem. And how about throwing in the Golan Heights.

AAAah yes..the Assyrians... probably the most notable victim of Islamo/Arab fascism of the past 2000 yrs...

When one considers:

MAP http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm

The Assyrians came from an area now divided into Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran, there is JUST as much a case for them having an independant state as the Palestinians.. the descendants of those who committed Genocide against them over the past 2000 yrs.

They remained nominally Christian in spite of continual Islamic/Arab persecution and genocide, and thus, because they have a history at least as long as the Arabs, are entitled to their own state.

We cannot use the idea 'They are so few now' to justify no statehood because the only reason they are so few is because of ISLAMIC/ARAB Cultural and Physical GENOCIDE against them. If this is used, then the Israelis can wipe out most of the Palestinians and we can use the same reasoning......

So.. perhaps its time for a call, for Independant statehood for Assyria.

They have been:

1/ Perscuted (By Arabs/Muslims)
2/ Been Victims of Genocide (Arab/Muslims and Tamerlane the Mongol)
3/ Dispossessed (Taxed into Islam )(By Arabs/Muslims)
4/ Have a distinct language,culture and race.
5/ Maintain their claim to Nationhood.

Example: 737 A.D.
The Caliph Mahdi decrees that all churches built since the Muslim conquest be destroyed. Over 5000 Christians from Halab were forced to accept Islam or death.

More here: http://www.aina.org/martyr.html#650

Gee.. I think I've heard this about Palestinians...... could be wrong.

But wait....THERES MORE....

Lets look at how the Arabs treated the Christian Assyrians....

In the spirit of "Slay them wherever you find them" Quran 4:89
"Make war on them until Allah's religion reigns supreme" Quran 8.39

1310 A.D.
Arabs, with the help of the Mongols, capture Arbela and massacre all of the inhabitants that could not be sold as slaves. Here is a description of the event:"'And they [Assyrians] went out at daybreak on the Sabbath, with their sons, and daughters, and wives, without any weapon, and without a sword, and without a knife, and when the wicked people of the Arabs saw that they had come down, they were filled with a fierce passion, and they drew their swords, and they slew them from the greatest of them to the least, without pity and without fear". Of those who held out in the fortress: "Famine vanquished them completely! Widows stretched out their hands and wept, and there was none to bind up what was broken. And there was absolutely no one to bury the dead. Who was there who had strength enough to dig a grave? Orphans died on the dung heaps. Others fell down dead in their houses and dried up, and others hurled themselves down from the wall, and those [Arabs] who were below received them on their swords, and hacked them to pieces. Their visages are blacker than ashes, and they cannot be recognized. Their skins have shrunk on their bones, and have dried up, and become like wood. Far happier are those who have been slain by the sword than those who have been slain by hunger".

Yes indeed.. we need to have such sympathy for these delightful people who's ancestors did these things... Strange.. I see the same attitudes and evil in the faces of the gun toting thugs who rampage the streets looking for some 'evil Jew' to kill.. just like their ancestors murdered the Assyrians.

Peaceful Islam.. we need more of this (?)

"Far happier are those who have been slain by the sword than those who have been bored by Boazzzz." www.lordraptureboaznow.com

Before addressing the withdrawal of Isreal from ‘occupied territory’ we need to mindful as to how & why the territory came to be occupied.

In 1967 The Palestinians & their Arab state allies attacked Israel.
They gambled- if they had won- there’d be no Israel today
[And I suspect there’d be no bleeding hearts crying over the plight of dispossessed Israelis]
But the gamble failed - they lost -they were occupied, & large numbers fled (whether through fears of retribution or through pangs (of a guilty) conscience –we don’t know).

Now when a party wages a war & they loose that war
(as unpalatable as it may be for you), there are usually costs.
One of the costs is often loss of territory & or occupation.
Accordingly, Japan does not have all the territory pre-war Japan held
Likewise, the boundaries of post-war Germany are not those of pre-war Germany.

You need to explain to ‘your heroes’ that in the big world people play tough.
If you gamble & loose –you loose your chips.
If you sell land to settlers –you can’t play Indian giver and expect to take it back next week.

However having said that , I agree that Gaza & the West Bank should be returned-and that appears to be in progress. It makes little sense for Israel to ride shotgun-long term- over a largely restive Gaza or West Bank.I also think that a Palestinan State with East Jerusalem as its capital would be reasonable.However getting Israel to agree, may require a lot of negotiation.
The Golan Heights which have an important strategic/defensive role
Should stay with Israel.

I don’t know about the Palestinians being the indigenous population of the region.My gut feeling is that the real indigenes -have been ethnic cleansed- and are now somewhere buried sixteen layers deep, under the foundations or Jerusalem.