Maracas, "paving the way for the people of the area, the Jews and the Arabs in establishing a secular state"

I dont see the Arabs giving up their muslim religion or the Jews giving up their Jewish religion any time in the near future so how are they going to establish a secular state

Sharkfin.
The state, i.e. the Government becomes secular and it's citizens are free to practice their own religious belief as in Australia for example. The members of Government become elected on policies, not by their religious beliefs

fungus

That web site is very good, it also makes clear the problems Jews and other non-Muslims have in other ME countries. However it does not invalidate my statement that the Arabs have equality in law. The fact that educational opportunities are less for the Arabs is somewhat similar to the situation in Melbourne where children from the western suburbs are at an enormous educational disadvantaged to those from the higher socio-economic groups in the south and east. They are still equal in the sight of the law.

Also the web site points out that some groups of Jews have poorer opportunities than others. It is a simple fact of life that children of educated parents always have better chances than others, all societies have poverty traps, this a reality of life.

It is when socio- economic opportunities become mixed up with ethnicity that people feel it worst. Some ethnic groups in Israel are doing OK, the Baha'i would never go back to Iran. Same in Australia when some minorities do brilliantly, others fail. That is life, Karl Marx never produced a solution either.

The point is that a state can treat all groups with the same laws, and Israel does that. They have been no more successful that we have with the "perfect state". I would expect that a one state solution for Israel would be a disaster given the track record of most Islamic states and the Israeli Arabs know that as well as anyone else.

Blaming the Israelis for all their woes is not going to help the Palestinians, they have to realise their own short comings.

maracas

Most Israelis are already secular, and they do have religious freedom, including the right to be declared atheists, or march in gay rights parades. By the way are you suggesting that "Family First" is not a religious party, or that the DLP never was? Don't expect Israel to do any better than we have.

It is high time to dispel myths and treat Israel like any other democratic nation.

Palestine was partitioned. The jewish part of it is called israel, the arab/muslim part of it is called trans-jordan, or Jordan.
Israel was created by the UN. It was attacked on the very day. There has been no change in its attackers' attitude in the 60 years since. That is, it was attacked on the first day - and every day ever since. And now some people have the gall to paint it as the nasty one in the equation because the jews don't give up and scatter yet again.

If the jews are not at home in isreal, where are they at home? If the jews can't have their ancient country, why can arabs have anything outside Arabia, whence they burst out of in the 7-9th centuries?

What is proposed for the generations of jews born in israel? The same fate as for the generations of jews born in Egypt and Syria and Iran before 1948? Shouldd these jews also have a right of return? No-one is pushing for THAT!

An another thing. Israel is constantly reminded of its political, moral and legal responsibilities. But there is no-one among the palestinians or arabs or muslims who are ever called to take responsibilty for squanderig 60 years and untold treasure in aid and goodwill. There is an implicit lowering of expectations, often to near-zero, when talking about the palestinians. The jews were scattered in 70 ad by the Romans. Yet they have made extraordinary contributions to every field of human life. What have the Palastinians ever done for us? - to coin a phrase. Or for themselves, much more to the point. Nothing.

And no, I am not a joooo.

logic, Palestinian Arab Israelis are systematically discriminated against in Israel. It is not just a case of them being poorer and/or in the minority. It is a case of them being second-class citizens and treated as such.

To see what I mean, check out the following:

www.arabhra.org/HRA/SecondaryArticles/SecondaryArticlePage.aspx?SecondaryArticle=1499

www.adalah.org/eng/backgroundhistory.php

www.adalah.org/backgroundlegalsystem.php

www.assoc40/index_main.html

www.mossawacenter.org/default.php?lng=3&pg=1&dp=2&fl=2

www.birem.org/english/index.html

fungus

Just give me a list of Palestinian Arabic sites and tell me they are all true. They wouldn't be biased would they?

Did you know that a French court has upheld the right of a group to protest that TV shots allegedly showing a boy killed by Israeli gunfire are probably false? French 2 TV only showed part of the video, and nothing showing that he actually died. There will be further legal work on this, it will be interesting if it ever gets into the western press, the boy may well be still alive.

It's called Pallywood, the doctoring of material by Palestinian reporters and cameramen. Try reading China Post online it comes from Taiwan and shows no bias on the matter.