Probably all true given todays situation.
It still doesn't feel right to let Israel get away with the 1948 invasion scott free.
I guess they have paid a price for that expansion in instability, but the war drums beat on and on, seemingly without any "humanity" at all. The recent Gaza bloodbath shows just how useless the current situation is, so *something* has to change.
Wars produce fewer losers when they are quick and decisive, only the scumbags win out from interminable wars. (Which is why there are elements, particularly US elements that continually beat the drum.)
Will the politics of hate and the economics of profiteering continue to dominate? Probably, as the whole thing is being driven by external parties.

Ozandy

There was no invasion by Israel in 1948. Just the reverse - Israel was invaded by six Arab armies in 1948.

Israel did not end up scot free either. That 1948 war ended with the Arabs in control and occupation of Gaza and the West Bank freed of any Jews who had been living there prior to 1948 and who were driven out by the Arabs during that war.

This total Arab control of the West Bank and Gaza lasted for 19 years yet there was not any attempt by the Arabs to create a new Arab state between Jordan and Egypt during all that time. The Arabs blew the chance to achieve the two state solution that that they are now pressing for just 42 years too late. That opportunity will not come again unless they drastically alter their negotiating stance.

All the subsequent wars and bloodshed on both sides could have been avoided if what is sought now and cannot be achieved had been grabbed with open arms between 1948-1967.

For years Jews claimed that Palestanians refused to recognise Israel's right to exist and wanted to wipe them off the map. So it must be sadly amusing for the Palestinians to now watch the Israelis claim there is no such thing as a Palestinian, just a Jordanian, and that there is no such thing as Palestinine; effectively wiping it off the map.

Long term watchers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have come to expect this from the convoluted morality and perverse logic of the Israeli publicity machine. The simple rule seems to be: whatever they say, look for the opposite as it will more than likely be closer to the truth.

Dane

There is no difference between a "Palestinian" and a "Jordanian". This is not my view but has been the view expressed by leading Arab spokesmen such as King Hussein and Abu Iyad.

Indeed there never was anyone even called a "Jordanian" until 1950.

The "Palestinians" could have created a state in 100% of the West Bank at any time between 1948-1967 when not one Jew lived there - but they blew the opportunity. It's very difficult to catch the horse once it has bolted. Times and circumstances have made it impossible for such an exclusively Arab populated state to now be created in 100% of the West Bank in 2009.

So there has to be an alternative that might work. That involves redrawing the boundary between Israel and Jordan so that the heavily populated Arab areas of the West bank become part of Jordan and the heavily populated Jewish areas of the West Bank become part of Israel.No one living in the West Bank - be he Arab or Jew - will have to leave his current home under such a proposal

It might not be the perfect solution for the Arab residents of the West Bank but it is infinitely better than the situation that now exists and has existed for them during the last 42 years.