cont ...

St John, Revelations 2:9 cast the Jews in a more sinsiter role. He believed that Jews had not only rejected Christ, but also were agents of Satan - a powerful idea in Revelation 8:144. St John portrayed them elsewhere in the NT as being children not of Abraham, but of Satan himself. Christian scholars incorporated other biblical prophecies with those of Paul and John, asserting not only would Jews worship the Antichrist, but also the Antichrist would be born of a Jew.

Anti-Judaic sentiment was also attached to certain prophecies predating Christianity, particularly the Tiburtine Sibylle, originating in Greece. These prophecies introduced the idea of the Blood-Libel, that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Christ. This also led to the wide-spread belief that Jews killed and ate Christian children. Whilst this libel was rigorously denied by popes such as Innocent III (1198-1216), Innocent IV (1243-1254), Gregory X (1271-1276) and others, it became imbedded in social thinking leading to pogroms and murders of Jews. Jews were blamed for everthing - even the Black Death.

The book “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, which is printed even today under similar titles, carries like horrors. The “Protocols”, originally a satire by Maurice Joly who condemned the political ambitions of Napoleon III, was devoid of any anti-semitism. However, his work was plagiarized, with added fabrications and forgeries, to “explain” Jewish ambitions for world domination. Widely published, it is considered the first of the conspiracy theory literature, and used by anti-semites. Hitler adopted this work to support his policies for National Socialism, and the extermination of Jews.

Unfortunately, we have inherited many of these prejudices, in differing forms, into the collective sub-conscious. Interestingly, where Jews have been permitted to take part in society as equals, they have contributed more in philanthropy, the arts and sciences, and intellectual debate,than any other group per capita of population.

Whilst “semite” refers to a language group shared by Arab and Jew, the word antisemitism relates to Jews only, and first appeared in the 19th century, used noteably by the German, Wilhelm Marr.

"After all it is their territory, and it is why most historians have wished that the unfortunate wandering Jewish peoples, rather than arming them with nuclear weapons, would have been far better absorbed into an America, that is already made up with similar greatly talented wandering groups from other nations."

Bushy - brave, noble, erudite - thankyou!

- I should have added compassionate and wise.

My sympathies are with the Palestinians, based upon the relative quantum of suffering. But you already knew that.

Having said that, you made me think of the suffering of the Jewish people of Israel, who although gifted with political support, money and materiel (stuff, generally) - are lured into living someone else's dream. In a way, their chosen land has become their prison too.

If it were me, I wonder if I might wake up one morning and just feel like throwing the script in the bin. Tired of being an actor. Tired of being typecast.

- who wrote this crappy script anyway?

fluff4,

I knew senior British Colonial officers who had served in Palestine prior - during - and immediately after the war. They regarded those that served under them as the "dregs at the bottom of the barrel", this included Palestian police, whom everyone detested.

Amongst the miriad of faults listed were the servicemen's propensity to pilfer, and waste time waiting in long queues outside brothels for the services of young Arab women who were "amiable and childlike" - it could hardly have been satisfactory. This was confirmed by an Australian ex-serviceman who said: "it was like dipping a piece of string into a well".

I did not like these BCO's - they were duplicitous, albeit for 'king and country'. Whilst importing Arab labour from other parts of the Middle East (the question begs 'why?' when they had local labour), they prevented those arriving in ships - survivors of nazi death camps - from berthing by shooting across their bows; also holding those they permitted to berth, in camps surrounded by barbed wire. What were they expecting these poor unfortunates to do? One of these men admitted to looking the other way when a group of Arabs tore a Jewish youth to pieces.

Yet the British used the Jewish Hagganah to protect their interests against the Arab revolt of 1936-39; when faced with invasion by Rommel's forces, the Brits desparately sought assistance from the Palmach, without whom they would have been defeated. In 1943, the Brits created the Jewish Brigade deploying them in Italy.

I suppose you refer to the the bomb attack by the Irgun on King David Hotel's south wing (British HQ) when mentioning Jews killing Brits. The British HQ received two phone warnings beforehand, but ignored them as “preposterous” - (after all, who would dare attack the might of the British Empire) - and did not evacuate the hotel. The result, ninety one people killed. The arrogance of the Brits themselves was responsible for both the lead-up to and actual attack with resulting deaths

Regarding Arab Palestinians, in May 1947 the representative of the Arab Higher Committee of the UN, in a statement to the General Assembly, reported: "Palestine was part of the Province of Syria ... politically, the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity".

Some years later, Ahmed Shuqeiri, who became chairman of the PLO, told the Security Council: "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria".

Palestinian Arab nationalism, a post-World War I phenomenon, did not become a significant political movement until after the 1967 Six-Day War.

When Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, they introduced immediate improvements in living conditions that Palestinians had endured under Jordan’s 19 year occupation of the West Bank, and Egypt’s occupation of Gaza. Universities were opened, Israel’s agricultural innovations were shared, modern conveniences and modern health care introduced; those working in Israel received exactly the same wages as Israelis in identical jobs. No distinction is made.

Haven't the writers here noticed that there are no Israelis in the Gaza Strip. Israel not only dismantled all its settlements and military and removed them in 2005, but also left industrial complexes for Palestinians to use. Gaza is free of Israeli occupation.

Palestinian camps exist in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria - only in Jordan do these Palestinians enjoy citizenship and health benefits.

'The arrogance of the Brits themselves was responsible for both the lead-up to and actual attack with resulting deaths '

Danielle, are you seriously asking adults to accept that the actual bombers had no responsibility for the bombing?

Such irrational rationalisation also allows a modern day comparison. ie suicide bombers can also blame their victims. Do you accept that particular parallel? Of course you won't and that's reasonable. But don't try and whitewash the atrocities of only one side in the dispute. It only re-enforces readers views of your particular bias and undermines your credibility.