> I can't help but wonder how your posts would be different if the > tables were turned and it was Palestine that was occupying Israel.
Let's be honest here. There's never been a Palestine. Not once. Never. The name Palestine was given to the area that was lived in by Jews at the time by the Greeks in order to break the spirit of the Jews. There has always been a Jewish presence there. There were Jewish kingdoms there. And until the 20th century, the term Palestinian was used to refer to -- Jews. It was only in the 20th century that the term Palestinian was used to refer to Arabs. It is Jewish land. It's always been Jewish land. And it has been occupied by Arabs since the time of the Crusades. But at no time was it ever Palestinian land. There was never a Palestine run by Arabs. So whose land is it? Our land. Is it occupied by Arabs? Yes. Are we willing to give up some of the land in return for peace? Yes. Have we seen any inkling from the Arabs living in the land that they are willing to accept land for peace? No. Just look at the Hammas charter. Just look at the original PLO charter (which many say was never changed.) Look at the Hizbollah charter. Look at the stance of Iran. Syria. And almost every other Arab state around. No acceptance of Israel or "the Zionist entity" as they say it, because they just can't say the word "Israel." No acceptance of land for peace. No acceptance of peace, period. Now as for your example -- if a man attacks soldiers, then runs into a house, and the soldiers destroy the house with the man in it and kills an innocent family, the moral weight is on the man into the house. The man that targeted that family. You would blame the soldiers for shooting the attacker -- well it's that attacker who is at fault for putting the family in danger. This is the entire problem with terrorists. They hide out in civilian areas, knowing that they won't be attacked. They launch attacks from civilian areas, knowing that they won't be attacked. So when Israel gets fed up with the body count and kills them, it's their own fault. Hiding in the middle of civilians thinking that you can continue to attack and not be killed in response can only go so far. Try for once blaming the terrorists. Try for once blaming the people who invite attack into civilian areas. Try for once not blaming Israel, but instead blaming those who continue to attack Israel, who continue to stop peace from happening and continue the legacy of Arafat. But let's take another stance. You say that Israel is occupying the West Bank and Gaza. These areas were originally occupied by Egypt (for Gaza) and Jordan (for the West Bank). At no time did these countries ever give the Palestinians their own state. At no time did they think of giving the Palestinians their own state. When Israel won these territories from these countries in a defensive war and offered to give them back, the answer was "no negotiations, no recognition" -- which was, and still is, to a large part, the standard Arab answer. Judith ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:135822 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
