Originally Posted by zteccc

Geez, such vitriol for me when you didn't really disagree with what I wrote. We can keep going back in history and see other owners of that territory. I started my history at about the time that Israel was founded by the UN. You went back a bit further, but we both wrote the same facts. The UN did in fact create the state of Israel. It doesn't matter who supported it. The entire General Assembly (that is every country in the UN) voted and resolved that a Jewish state in Palestine should exist. In short, this is the UN's decision (and the UN's mess). Yes, the US recognized Israel quickly, but really so did many other nations (and why shouldn't they since they voted in the UN to form the nation of Israel). For those who voted against Israel and for those who feel displaced, their conflict should be with the UN and not with Israel or the US or any other nation. The UN created this mess and they should be held responsible to help clean it up.

It is understandable that the Arabs were upset with the arrival of Jewish refugees and understandable that they suddenly became the minority in the area. Factually speaking, nobody "stole" any Arab's land to found Palestine. After WWI, the land called Palestine, formerly owned by the Turkish Ottoman Empire was given to the control of the British by the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The land of Palestine was split into an east and western section, the western going to the Jews, and the eastern portion (about 75% of the land) going to the Arabs (which was part of Palestine, but was called Trans-Jordan and later became Jordan). The Arabs who remained in the western areas were encouraged to live there peacefully, but fighting between the Jews and Arabs occurred many times while the British occupied the region (remember, the area was still under British control). Finally, in 1947, the British turned the problem over to the UN. Yes, the UN proposed splitting the western portion of Palestine (remember the eastern portion had become Jordan) into two states, a Jewish state of Israel and an Arab state of Palestine. Remember that this is a split of the Western 25% of the land of Palestine that the British took over from the Turks.

Regardless of who "controls" the UN, let's be honest with our facts. Israel has had many resolutions against it from the UN. Those resolutions are evidence that the UN is not always on Israel's side. The US itself has many times restrained Israel. The US is opposed to the wall that Israel is building, for example. I believe that history shows that the US has tried many times to broker peace agreements and to help in building a Muslim Palestinian state. The US is indeed currently an ally of Israel. There is no need to apologize for that. We help our allies and we do provide them with arms when they want them. The US is also an ally of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, etc. All of these are Muslim nations. This is not an act of a nation controlled by Jews. For the record, neither of the senators from my state are Jewish. I cannot speak for other states, but in this state, we don't vote for senators because of their ethnic or religious background. I haven't counted, so I can't be sure, but do you have a list of the 51+ US Senators who are Jewish?

In the end, we agree on the facts of the situation, how Israel came to be, but you (understandably) have a different slant on the issue from me.
Honestly, it doesn't matter to me who holds the land. What matters to me is the actions of those in the area. In the 1988, Arafat renounced terrorism. What followed was a decade that was mostly peaceful in the middle east, with accords between Israel and the PLO and some good strides towards a lasting peace. During this time Arafat and Rabin jointly received the Nobel Peace prize for their work together. You didn't read about attacks in either dirction. Change takes time and peace takes time. Apparently things didn't happen quickly enough and the two sides are at war again. I find the situation reprehensible. I find the UN to be responsible for creating this situation. I believe that Arafat cannot control his people, which means that the PLO needs new leadership who can promote peace before this situation is resolved.

-- Jeff