[ShepherdsDog]

Last time I checked the Bedouins were Arabs and they are quite happy being Israeli citizens, as were most Arab Israelis. As for the claim that Palestinians were in the area for 2 - 5000 years. Horse puckey, there's no such animal!! Up until the Roman diaspora the area was known as Judea or Israel and it was occupied by the Hebraic semites. Arabs, a related people lived to the south and east. The Philistines, occupied a narrow strip along the coast , which roughly corresponds with the Gaza Strip plus a small area north, from 1175 BC until about 600 BC, when they were wiped out or assimilated, the rest . It is felt now that they were probably Indo Europeans and more than likely Myceans (Greeks), who are completely unrelated to Arabs. Prior to that it was the Canaanites who were exterminated or absorbed by the Hebrew tribes. Those that survived became known as Phoenicians, in what is now known as Lebanon.

When the British mandate was divided up, the Arabs got the Lion's share, for their help against the Ottomans and later the Germans. This was what we now know as Jordan. Today 70 % of the inhabitants of Jordan claim to be Palestinian. The word Palestinian itself is misleading. what is a Palestinian? Yasser Arafat, was born, raised and educated in Egypt, yet claimed to be a Palestinian. What criteria do we have to determine what a Palestinian is? Kurds have more of a claim to national status, because they are ethnically and linguistically different from their Arab neighbours and have documented evidence linking them to their areas going back thousands of years. Should the Greeks be allowed to take back Thrace and Constantinople? Should the English leave Great britain to the Welsh and return to Denmark anfd Northern Germany (that might solve this Hans thing)? Where does it end?

[Motorcycleboy]

GunPlumber GunPlumber:

You're trying to change the subject in order to divert attention away from the fact that Israel and Israelis have committed (and are committing) crimes for which the likes of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were condemned.

Ah yes, the tired old tactic of the left. Accuse a democratic nation of acting "like Hitler and the Nazis." A pointless argument. If only I had a dollar for everytime I've heard a leftist accuse sensible people of being "Nazis." Get over it Gunplumber. The term "Nazi" has about as much impact on on right thinking people as the term "Racist". Through overuse and hyperbole, you Rainbow Coalitioners have ensured terms like that have absolutely no meaning anymore.