And for Propaganda Pigs with an interest in Israel's Palestinian Arab minority, that is, those who managed to survive the The Great Ethnic Cleansing of 48, here's part of what it's like for non-Jews to live in a Jewish state: "The High Court in Israel has narrowly upheld a controversial law that bars West Bank Palestinians from living with their Israeli Arab spouses and children in Israel itself...One of the groups that challenged the law said thousands of families are affected, they have been forced to move abroad, live apart or if they stay together, risk being arrested or deported." What a Paradise! (ABC Online 15/5/06)

Oh no, I just saw the old "anti-Semitic" claptrap in use as a means of stiffling critisism of Israel.I hadn't intended to post, but really, could we knock this on the head once and for all?

It is NOT anti-Semitic to critisise a nation that has brutally occupied millions of men, women and children for decades. On the contrary, it would be anti-Semitic not to critisise Israel's persecution of a Semitic people,the Palestinians. Israel is the only country in the world actually practising anti-Semitism.

AND, Israelis could be Hindu, Catholic, brown, blue...it is their ACTIONS, not their religion, that causes them to stand condemned. Jewish, smooish..who cares?

Let's face it - some elements of the Israeli (and other Jewish) media demonise Arabs, and some elements of the Arab media demonise Israel and Jews. Surely, then, if we are going to use the archaic definition of 'semite' (descendant of Shem), both are antisemitic? Which would mean that Israel is antisemitic if they are planning to destroy all Arabs and Arabs are antisemitic if they are planning to destroy Israel?

This is always a fun little debate, because people get so worked up about it. And, while we are choosing our words carefully to prove our point (eg. Israel is 'brutal' but no mention of 'brutal' suicide bombers), people in the Middle East are living and dying with a problem that our intellectual discussions are not solving.

O: One of the reasons the problem persists is the curious inability of people such as yourself to see the differences between the two sides. Does it have something to do with history no longer being a core subject in our schools, or maybe the fact that no one reads anymore? There is nothing unique about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. It's just another example of well-armed and determined European colonialists imposing themselves (with the backing of first one imperial power (Britain), followed by another (the US)) on a native people. Cowboys and Indians, if you like. Unlike some others on onlineopinion, who in one form or another seem to get some kind of vicarious thrill out of the rampaging of bullies, I've always had an instinctive sympathy for the underdog, the poor bastard being done over. That's why the Palestinians have my understanding and support in this vicious struggle to dispossess and cage them. It's really, really important to understand the basic dynamics of the issue BEFORE you speak about it. May I suggest you read Susan Nathan's wonderful new book, 'The Other Side of Israel'?

Thanks, Strewth, for speaking down to me. I appreciate it, because (apparently uneducated) people like myself, with no emotional attachment to either side but five years of study focusing largely on this issue, couldn't possibly know a thing about the situation.

I didn't bother to quote academia in my post because I don't see a need. I don't deny that, in terms of modern history, the Palestinians have a more legitimate historical claim to the land. I also don't deny that the Israelis have, over time, used a range of dirty tricks to maintain their ownership of their territory. But to suggest that the dirty tricks are one-sided is to create a revisionist history. What concerns me is that there are two generations of Israeli Jews who have no other home, and several Arab states who would like to deprive them of their current homes. Similarly, there are generations of Palestinians who have lost their homes and, as a result of the Israeli occupation, have lost everything their ancestors - and their parents - worked for.

What is the solution? Displace the Jewish population to reinstate the Palestinians? Further displace the Palestinian population to restore the entire Biblical holy land to its former glory? I don't have the answers, but I guess that is because I couldn't possibly know a thing about Israel, Palestine or anything else for that matter. I guess I'll blame the education system for letting me down.

Oto: How depressing - 5 years studying Israel/Palestine, but still "emotionally unattached"? Still just a "fun little debate" watching those who "get so worked up about it" and standing on the sidelines tut-tutting about "dirty tricks"? You're comfortably above it all, aren't you? You still can't see that the Palestinians are one of those people who have been well and truly served up on toast for breakfast: entirely innocent of wrongdoing towards European Jewry, but presented with an impossible situation of existential threat (ie the establishment of an ethnically exclusive Jewish state in their homeland) by a European colonial-settler movement (Zionism) and its imperial backers - to the point where, occupied, dispossessed and stateless, they're barely hanging on to the tiny shreds of Palestine still (for the present) in their hands. And all you can find to concern yourself with is some hypothetical and non-existent 'threat' to Israeli Jews (who possess one of the world's most powerful armies, complete with hundreds of nukes and WMD's and whose every whim is catered for by their current imperial backer, the US) from Arab regimes (most in bed with the US and two having concluded peace treaties with Israel) chronically incapable of uniting around anything. Finally, to cap it off, you come up with the absurd either/or of "displace the Jewish population" or "displace the Palestinians". Has it ever occurred to you that , if as you say "the Palestinians have a more legitimate...claim to the land" but that "there are two generations of Israeli Jews who have no other home", then the only possible just and equitable solution is a binational state of its Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. And for that to be achieved the onus is overwhelmingly on the Israelis and their current imperial backer to accomodate legitimate and internationally recognised Palestinian rights. It's been achieved in South Africa. It can be achieved in Palestine. Your fence sitting is part of the problem.