Khalid Mashaal said:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jan/31/comment.israelandthepalestinians

<<We shall never recognise the right of any power to rob us of our land and deny us our national rights>>

SO... did Jews ROB Palestinians of "their" land?

I agree that more recently, (maybe the past 2 decades) this has been happening. (settlers)

But.. when Israel was formed.. it was not the case.(it appears)

1936 TO 1948

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZegY3BztIc&feature=related

Who opened hostilities against who? "Arabs rejected the (very fair) partition plan and declared war"

Palestinian refugees were made refugees BECAUSE of that war the Arabs declared.

*"Arabs rejected the (very fair) partition plan and declared war"*

Err Poly, if somebody owned that land and it was taken, no matter
how fair you think it was, they deserve to be compensated with
interest. That is fair.

Yabby.....I quite agree.. but the point is.. at the beginning...when the partition was enacted.. no land had been 'taken'.... the only thing the partition mean't was who is governing. That is not the same as land being taken.

The land was bought by Jewish immigrants.

Only after the Arabs declared war on Jews was their massive displacement of people.. no compensation is needed in such circumstances.

If I declare war on you because you do things I don't like..and in the end..I lose... and am punished by the loss of some of my property.. errrr how do you see ME deserving compensation for that?

I can't see it.

It also depends on whether particular villages or populations were 'driven' off their land, or whether they simply abandoned it.

Then there is the question of EQUAL compensation for all Jews who were driven out of Arab regions..

Compensation ? sure.. EQUALLY for all parties :)

I don't blame Israelis for not accepting that they are bombarded
with rockets and should not respond either but one thing is clear.

They want the whole of their land back which was stollen from them.

Give it to them and relocate those effected to wherever they choose and pay 'them real compensation. Make it well and truly worth their while. Expensive but so are wars. They must remember its not their land and although they and their familes are victims of what happend years ago we should be doing the right thing in order to bring world peace.

Would that then be the end to it? Who knows but it would at least give everybody a real chance to end this once and for all.

Before you ask yes I do have some idea of how many people and familes that would involvee but if the UN are serious its the only way.
After that if they keep fighting- Well thats different.

Then I think we can say we tried and others have the right to defend themselves and should not hestitate to use full force within a heartbeat.

According to, The Guardian, Tuesday 6 Jan. 2009,
Khalid Mish'al sums up the situation thus:

"For six months we in Hamas observed the
ceasefire. Israel broke it repeatedly from
the start. Israel was required to open crossings
to Gaza, and extend the truce to the West Bank.
It proceeded to tighten its deadly siege of
Gaza, repeatedly cutting electricity and water
supplies. The collective punishment did not
halt, but accelerated, as did the assassinations and
killings. Israel enjoyed a period of calm.
Our people did not."

"For 18 months my people in Gaza have been under
siege, incarcerated inside the world's biggest
prison, sealed off from land, air and sea, caged
and starved, denied even medication for our sick.

After the slow death policy came the bombardment.
In this most densely populated of places, nothing
has been spared Israel's warplanes, from
government buildings to homes, mosques, hospitals,
schools and markets. More than 540 have been killed
and thousands permanently maimed. A third are women
and children. Whole families have been massacred, some
while they slept.

When this broken truce neared its end, we expressed our
readiness for a new comprehensive truce in return for
lifting the blockade and opening all Gaza border
crossings, including Rafah. Our calls fell on deaf ears.

Yet still we would be willing to begin a new truce on
these terms following a complete withdrawal of the
invading forces from Gaza.

No rockets have ever been fired from the West Bank.
But 50 died and hundreds more were injured there...

We are meant to be content with shrinking scraps of
territory, a handful of cantons at Israel's mercy,
enclosed by it from all sides. The truth is Israel
seeks a one-sided ceasefire, observed by my people
alone...

The logic of those who demand that we stop our resistance
is absurd. They absolve the aggressor and occupier -
armed with the deadliest weapons of death and destruction -
of responsibility, while blaming the victim, prisoner,
and occupied.

Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to
the world..."

You can read the entire article on:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/06/gaza-israel-hamas

Mulling over decisions made by past generations, long since dead, to determine the flaws, supposedly now apparent, is as insightful a process as eugenics.

Why should someone determine to cast a line in the sand at a moment immediately prior to the Balfour Declaration and decide that the then prevailing Status Quo was anything absolute?

It is a very silly idea

As silly as suggesting, following the end of WWII, that the correct political division of Poland was that defined in the Molotov -Ribbentrop pact of 1939.

“This situation has got to end, swiftly and with a minimum of casualties on both sides!”

Well it could have been avoided almost entirely if the Palestinians would come to the table and remove expectations of “Israeli annihilation” as a prerequisite.

As to “minimum of casualties”

In the short or long term?

Certainly the situation has absorbed the minds and reputations of many politicians over time.

The Israelis have a simple choice, finish it now or have more people die at the hands of another generation of Palestinians weaned on a diet which includes of an overdeveloped sense of entitlement based on the myth of supposed wrongs done to past generations.

Politics is not about absolutes it is merely the art of the possible

Stated Palestinian demands and aspirations are not a basis for future peace or anything which will ever be possible.

Palestinians need to take that simple fact on board before they cause any more deaths.

“if the world is to continue it`s belief in the sanctity of the Geneva Convention and the continued justifiable existence of the UN Security Council”

Oh grownups have long understood the nature of UN and its organs, security council included.

UN is the “paper tiger” of Chinese jokes and derision.

I find it hard to believe that people still make reference to any of its edicts, resolutions or conventions and expect to be taken seriously.