"Vito" wrote...
We are beset by terrorists because of our ongoing support for the invasion
of Palistine


By whom? Syria?

Jeff Morris wrote:
No one beleives this. The primary complaint of Al Qaeda is the occupation of
Sauid Arabia by US forces.

Well, that plus their friggin' whacko clerics keep telling them that
U.S. stands for "Ultimate Satan."

Actually, they don't like our support for Israel (which isn't quite the
same thing as Vito said) but that's not AFAIK their main gripe.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of political-minded Muslims elsewhere who
despise our support of Israel.


and the slow eradication of its indigineous Muslim population


Odd - the Muslim population has growth steadily over the last 100 years. This
is a particularly insidious lie because it implies that there is some form of
"ethnic cleansing" going on. This is blatantly false.

And it's particularly ironic considering the pogroms practiced by almost
every country the Jews lived in other than the U.S. and Israel.
Definitely including the various Arab states pre-1948.


.... And remember, a
significant number (some say a majority) of those now claiming to be
"indigenous" Palestinians actually immigrated along with the Jewish immigrants,
who created economic opportunities.

This is a good point. Most of what is now Israel was barren wasteland
before. I particularly enjoy the Palestinians announcing "that was my
grandfather's orange grove" when the sign on the gate says TAHAL (large
Iraeli irrigation project that started in the 1950s).


I cannot blame either side
because there is plenty of blame to go around.


For sure ...

Unfortunately very true.


The original Jewish European


European? The largest group of settlers (before the Russian Jews) actually came
from other Muslim countries. It is often overlooked that as 600,000
Palestinians were voluntarily leaving (on the advice of Arab leaders) a much
larger number of Jews were being evicted from Muslim countries. While the
Palestinians were allowed to take all their possessions, the Jews generally had
everything confiscated.


invaders


Invaders? They were legal immigrants who purchased land from Muslims eager to
sell.


had been driven from their homes by Nazis then kept from returning
by their Christian neighbors, leaving them no place to go.


This was true in the case of the Polish Jews, who tried to return to Poland and
were rejected. But for the most part the European Jews were wiped out by the
Holocaust and the survivers were a small part of the immagration.

Let's not forget that at the UN partition (IIRC 1947), the Arabs were
given most of the choice pieces of what is now Israel, including
property that had been previoulsy bought & paid for by Jews. But that
was not enough... the surrounding Arabs states invaded the Jewish
territory. Did they really intend to slaughter every Jewish man, woman,
and child, or was that just fiery rhetoric? In any event, they lost. And
as Jeff noted, the surrounding Arab states urged the Palestinians to
leave yet would not give them homes.

In many Arab schools the UN partition and the Arab invasion is not
mentioned, only Israel's war for and declaration of independence. Their
name for this is "The Disaster." Guess what their kids grow up believing...


The Palistinians
have no effective weapons with which to fight Israeli helo's and artillery


There was no need to fight; they have been offered peace many times, and have
always found a way to avoid it.

What I can't understand is why the Palestinians are so eager to be
cannon fodder for their greedier & less brave Arab neighbors.


The fundamental problem is the belief by some in the Muslim community that they
have a divine right to rule all the land from India to Spain.

I think this is a very small minority. But the Arab & Muslim beliefs
(however misguided) *are* important in this equation. For example, I
have had American born Muslim friends tell me that *of course* the Sept
11th attack was planned and carried out by the Mossad. Imagine what
Muslims elsewhere in the world believe.

The U.S. cannot afford to ignore the growing conviction that we are the
bad guys. Much less feed that impression by being the bad guys. A
hypocritical self-righteous crusade will result in our grandchildren
having to fight off suicide bombers.

Regards
Doug King