Bashdar what on earth are you trying to say? Do you honestly think you can do justice to the history of either the Palestinians or the Jews in such a small piece? And what significance is there in introducing the Kurdish problems with Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria in your conclusion? What on earth do the Palestinians or the Jews either in history or today have to do with the Kurdish problem? Are you trying to compare the Jewish ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to make room for Israel with the Arab ethnic cleansing of Kurds? I find your comment in its totality utterly without merit or enlightenment of factual correctness. This is an extremely complex problem which unfortunately deals with such imponderables as religion, honor, pride as well as legalities, rights and justice. It has defied the solutions of countless statesmen and thinkers throughout the ages without the adding of a completely new, independently complex and totally irrelevant dimension into the mix!

From 1517 to 1831 "Palestine" was controlled/ruled by the Ottoman Turks.

(clearly the Arabs of the area did not 'like' this, or they would not have joined the British to defeat the Turks)

1831 to 1840 it was ruled by the Egyptians.

1841 saw the Ottoman Turks re-take the land. During THIS period, under TURKISH rule, the Jewish population grew from 12,000 to 85,000.

1914 Britain promises Independance to the Arabs(something they have never enjoyed) in exchange for helping them remove the Turks.

1916 Britain and France sign "Sykes Picot" agreement, dividing the land into spheres of influence (France gets Syria and Lebanon, Britain gets Jordan and Iraq) but Palestine was to be 'internationalised'. (whatever that means)

1917 Balfour declaration promises a 'Jewish Homeland in Palestine'

This does not mean it could not be 'independant' (just means a different population mix.)

BOTTOM LINE.

If anyone wishes to find a 'bad guy' in all of this, aim your darts at Britain (or the ROMANS who originally exiled the Jews)They clearly stuffed up on the diplomacy, and now we have large numbers of Jews following the promise made to them, and the Arabs 'trying' to achieve the promise made to them.

Unfortunately, history has not been kind to the Arabs in this matter.
So, Israel has not only established itself, but has succeeded in defending itself.

The British made a lot of historic stuff ups, and looking to the legalities of this, is futile in order to justify Arab independance of a contested region.

The British are neither God, nor particularly 'holy'. At the end of the day, the only final arbiter in this matter is the gun and the soldier.

WARN
DEFEAT
DEPORT
DISPERSE
ABSORB.

....PROBLEM SOLVED.

The crucial points -

1. Israel will continue to exist.

2. The outcome of 50-odd years of attempts to deny this has been poverty and misery for million of Palestinians, and many deaths.

3. Those attacking Israel are not primarily motivated by the well-being of the Palestinians.

4. The Israelis have at times offered significant concessions to achieve a settlement.

5. Too many non-Israelis refuse to countenance a reasonable settlement and/or misguidedly see advantage in maintaining tension.

6. Sadly, conflict will continue, Israel will continue to be attacked, and it will continue to defend itself. And innocents will continue to suffer.

BOAZ_David

I can only say that I agree completely with your analysis of the problem in Palestine, and agree that your proposed solution is the only one that would work. I would presume that you would agree with me that there is little likelihood of it being implemented, this side of a nuclear war (which may be only a few months away if GW decides to nuke Iran).

While we are discussing possible solutions, I would be interested in your opinion of another (equally unlikely) solution that I have seen on the internet. This would be that the population of Israel would be offered a large tract of land in Western Australia, in exchange for our muslim population, which would be moved to Palestine.

As someone who was educated in the early 1950's with the children of Jewish refugees that Australia accepted in 1938, I have always had a great respect and admiration for the abilities of the Jewish people.

With our resources, and their ability, I think such a solution would transform Australia.

"The population of Israel would be offered a large tract of land in Western Australia"
What, another re-run of that wild scheme from half a century ago, and to the same daunting landscape?
While we congratulate South Africa for ending aparthied, should we be contemplating the introduction of it here?
Does that offer come with a request "please bring your own water"?
My Jewish friends in Western Australia are established in suburban environments. They have been there for almost three generations, and are making highly beneficial contributions to Australian society from where they are.They are the equal of the most civilised people on earth, assisted in being that way by their position in Australian society.
To suggest that a Jewish enclave would be capable of enabling their society to be more compatible with this dry continent is to denigrate the work of Australia's world renowned scientific expertise in this field. Put a different way, it is a display of ignorance of such work.
To expand an Australian State's population five times its present numbers by importing an extra seven million people (Israel's numbers) sure is stretching things a bit. Especially when that state is presently incapable of adequately catering for its present numbers.
And importing among the newcomers some grossly uncivilised portions of the wild middle-eastern tribes will bring problems of its own.

Hi Plerds...

well, in purely practical terms, the transmigration of Israelis to Australia might be quite workable. I hardly think they would have much interest though.

Israel is a mix for sure, between those who genuinely believe the land is theirs by divine right (Have a Wiki at the term "Israel" and see the tribal allocations of land from the Old Testament, its quite specific) and those of a secular persuasion. Pretty much all Settlers are of the 'divine right' mob.

That reason alone would persuade me of the failure of such a course.
(though well intentioned and workable on the surface.)

Colinsett has pointed out some other angles on that proposal.

Regarding the problem itself as it currently stands. I'm dissappointed that the only thing many people can see is the micro focus.. like CNN..their coverage yesterday was on

-A family waiting for a lost loved one.
-a child hurt
-People fleeing.....

Little analysis of the CAUSE of the problem. Why did they not highlight, show on TV the references to Hezbollahs charter to destroy Israel ? Why not have an interview with a Hezbollah representative about THIS. Pose question to him that this might just be the reason Israel is hitting them so hard, and how much it RESEMBLES the Nazi approach to the Jews ..... that to me is news coverage.