King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.

Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

dubovac wrote:
Well considering that Israel people were "given" land in the aftermath of WW2 without asking anybody whose land was given away and the size and magnitude of expansion of Israel I think I feel sorry for those Palestinians. I mean look at this graphic.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
What, in your opinion, is a proportionate response? And how do you determine what is proportionate?

 Grey Templar wrote:

dubovac wrote:
Well considering that Israel people were "given" land in the aftermath of WW2 without asking anybody whose land was given away and the size and magnitude of expansion of Israel I think I feel sorry for those Palestinians. I mean look at this graphic.

You do know that Palestine never existed as a country. The people living there prior to the formation of Israel were little more than squatters on land owned by other countries at one point or another.

The people of the neighboring countries hate the so called "palestinians" almost as much as they hate Israel. Its actually why they encourage the conflict, so that they're both fighting each other and neither group is emigrating to the nearby countries.

Israel was given land that was owned by Great Britain. It wasn't owned by the people living there.

Litcheur wrote:
Before Israel was created, relations between jews and muslims weren't that bad. Of course, they weren't perfect, but seriously, we're comparing to christians, here. Christians who considered the jews to have commited deicide and persecuted them for centuries before even thinking about putting them in gas chambers.

According to Mark R. Cohen, during the rise of Islam, the first encounters between Muslims and Jews resulted in conflict when Muhammad expelled the Ancient Jewish tribes of Medina, when refused allegiance. He adds that this encounter was an exception rather than a rule.[7]

Traditionally Jews living in Muslim lands, known as dhimmis, were allowed to practice their religion and to administer their internal affairs but subject to certain conditions.[8] They had to pay the jizya (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to Muslims.[9] Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal disabilities such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims.[10] Contrary to popular belief, the Quran did not allow Muslims to force Jews to wear distinctive clothing. Obadyah the Proselyte reported in 1100 AD, that the Caliph had created this rule himself:

The Caliph of Baghdad, al-Muqtadi [1075–1094], had given power to his vizier, Abu Shuja, [who] imposed that each male Jew should wear a yellow badge on his headgear. This was one distinctive sign on the head and the other was on the neck … a piece of lead of the weight of a silver dinar hanging round the neck of every Jew and inscribed with the word dhimmi to signify that the Jew had to pay poll-tax. Jews also had to wear girdles round their waists. Abu Shuja further imposed two signs on Jewish women. They had to wear a black and a red shoe, and each woman had to have a small brass bell on her neck or shoe, which would tinkle and thus announce the separation of Jewish from Gentile [Muslim] women. He assigned cruel Muslim men to spy upon Jewish women, in order to oppress them with all kinds of curses, humiliation, and spite. The Gentile population used to mock all the Jews, and the mob and their children used to beat up the Jews in all the streets of Baghdad. When a Jew died, who had not paid up the poll-tax [jizya] to the full and was in debt for a small or large amount, the Gentiles did not permit burial until the poll-tax was paid. If the deceased left nothing of value, the Gentiles demanded that other Jews should, with their own money, meet the debt owed by the deceased in poll-tax; otherwise they [threatened] they would burn the body. (Scheiber, A. "The Origins of Obadyah, the Norman Proselyte" Journal of Jewish Studies (Oxford), Vol. 5, 1954, p. 37.)

In Moorish Spain, ibn Hazm and Abu Ishaq focused their anti-Jewish writings on the latter allegation. This was also the chief motivation behind the 1066 Granada massacre, when "[m]ore than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, fell in one day",[11] and in Fez in 1033, when 6,000 Jews were killed.[12] There were further massacres in Fez in 1276 and 1465.[13]

The Damascus affair occurred in 1840, when a French monk and his servant disappeared in Damascus. Immediately following, a charge of ritual murder was brought against a large number of Jews in the city including children who were tortured. The consuls of England, France and Germany as well as Ottoman authorities, Christians, Muslims and Jews all played a great role in this affair.[14] Following the Damascus affair, Pogroms spread through the Middle East and North Africa. Pogroms occurred in: Aleppo (1850, 1875), Damascus (1840, 1848, 1890), Beirut (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jerusalem (1847), Cairo (1844, 1890, 1901–02), Mansura (1877), Alexandria (1870, 1882, 1901–07), Port Said (1903, 1908), Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1891), Istanbul (1870, 1874), Buyukdere (1864), Kuzguncuk (1866), Eyub (1868), Edirne (1872), Izmir (1872, 1874).[15] There was a massacre of Jews in Baghdad in 1828.[12] There was another massacre in Barfurush in 1867.[12]

In 1839, in the eastern Persian city of Meshed, a mob burst into the Jewish Quarter, burned the synagogue, and destroyed the Torah scrolls. This is known as the Allahdad incident. It was only by forcible conversion that a massacre was averted.[16]

In 1941, following Rashid Ali's pro-Axis coup, riots known as the Farhud broke out in Baghdad in which approximately 180 Jews were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.[17]

Border police discovered on March 2, 1974 the bodies of (clockwise from top left: Fara Zeibak, Mazal Zeibak, Eva Saad and Lulu Zeibak, in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains.
During the Holocaust, the Middle East was in turmoil. Britain prohibited Jewish immigration to the British Mandate of Palestine. In Cairo the Jewish Lehi (also known as the Stern Gang) assassinated Lord Moyne in 1944 fighting as part of its campaign against British closure of Palestine to Jewish immigration, complicating British-Arab-Jewish relations. While the Allies and the Axis were fighting for the oil-rich region, the Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husayni staged a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq and organized the Farhud pogrom which marked the turning point for about 150,000 Iraqi Jews who, following this event and the hostilities generated by the war with Israel in 1948, were targeted for violence, persecution, boycotts, confiscations, and near complete expulsion in 1951. The coup failed and the mufti fled to Berlin, where he actively supported Hitler. In Egypt, with a Jewish population of about 75,000, young Anwar Sadat was imprisoned for conspiring with the Nazis and promised them that "no British soldier would leave Egypt alive" (see Military history of Egypt during World War II) leaving the Jews of that region defenseless. In the French Vichy territories of Algeria and Syria plans had been drawn up for the liquidation of their Jewish populations were the Axis powers to triumph.

The tensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict were also a factor in the rise of animosity to Jews all over the Middle East, as hundreds of thousands of Jews fled as refugees, the main waves being soon after the 1948 and 1956 wars. In reaction to the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Egyptian government expelled almost 25,000 Egyptian Jews and confiscated their property, and sent approximately 1,000 more Jews to prisons and detention camps. The population of Jewish communities of Muslim Middle East and North Africa was reduced from about 900,000 in 1948 to less than 8,000 today.

On March 2, 1974, the bodies of four Syrian Jewish girls were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains northwest of Damascus. Fara Zeibak 24, her sisters Lulu Zeibak 23, Mazal Zeibak 22 and their cousin Eva Saad 18, had contracted with a band of smugglers to flee from Syria to Lebanon and eventually to Israel. The girl’s bodies were found raped, murdered and mutilated. The police also found the remains of two Jewish boys, Natan Shaya 18 and Kassem Abadi 20, victims of an earlier massacre.[18] Syrian authorities deposited the bodies of all six in sacks before the homes of their parents in the Jewish ghetto in Damascus.[19]

Muslim conquest[edit]
There were, for some long but uncertain period, a significant number of Jews in Arabia. Historians claim that very large numbers of Jews – as high as 80,000 – arrived after the destruction of the First Temple, to join others already long established in places such as the oasis of Khaybar as well as the trading colonies in Medina and Mecca (where they even had their own cemetery). Another theory posits that these Jews were refugees from Byzantine persecutions. Regardless, Arab historians mention some 20 Jewish tribes, including two tribes of Kohanim.[3]

The Constitution of Medina, written shortly after hijra, addressed some points regarding the civil and religious situation for the Jewish communities living within the city from an Islamic perspective. For example, the constitution stated that the Jews "will profess their religion, and the Muslims theirs", and they "shall be responsible for their expenditure, and the Muslims for theirs". After the Battle of Badr, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qaynuqa breached treaties and agreements with Muhammad. Muhammad regarded this as casus belli and besieged the Banu Qaynuqa. Upon surrender the tribe was expelled.[4] The following year saw the expulsion of the second tribe, the Banu Nadir, accused of planning to kill the prophet Muhammad. The third major Jewish tribe in Medina, Banu Qurayza was eliminated after allegedly betraying the Muslims during the Battle of the Trench according to the Mosaic laws enjoined in Torah. Although there were many Jewish tribes present in Medina who continued to live in Medina peacefully after these events such as Banu Awf, Banu Harith, Banu Jusham Banu Alfageer, Banu Najjar Banu Sa'ida, and Banu Shutayba.[5][6]

In year 20 of the Muslim era, or the year 641 AD, Muhammad's successor the Caliph 'Umar decreed that Jews and Christians should be removed from all but the southern and eastern fringes of Arabia—a decree based on the (sometimes disputed) uttering of the Prophet: "Let there not be two religions in Arabia". The two populations in question were the Jews of the Khaybar oasis in the north and the Christians of Najran.[7][8] Only the Red Sea port of Jedda was permitted as a "religious quarantine area" and continued to have a small complement of Jewish merchants.

Middle Ages[edit]
During the Middle Ages, Jewish people under Muslim rule experienced tolerance and integration.[9] Some historians refer to this time period as the "Golden Age" for the Jews as more opportunities became available to them.[9] But this approach is commonly referred to as a myth.[10] Examples of large scale persecution against Jews in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages include the Almohad's persecutions, in which entire Jewish communities in Al-Andalus and North Africa were destroyed, and cases such as the 1033 Fez massacre. In the context of day-to-day life, Abdel Fattah Ashour, a professor of medieval history at Cairo University, states that Jewish people found solace under Islamic rule during the Middle Ages.[11] The Muslim rule at times didn't fully enforced the Pact of Umar and the traditional Dhimi status of Jews. Author Merlin Swartz referred to this time period as a new era for the Jews, stating that the attitude of tolerance led to Jewish integration into Arab-Islamic society.[11]

Jewish integration allowed Jews to make great advances in new fields, such as mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, chemistry and philology.[12] Jewish people also experienced political achievements under Islamic rule.[9] Jews under Islam pursued many economic endeavors that helped integrate them into the Arab marketplace.[13] During early Islam, Leon Poliakov writes, Jews enjoyed great privileges, and their communities prospered. There was no legislation or social barriers preventing them from conducting commercial activities. Commercial and craft guilds did not exist like the ones in Europe. Jewish people under Islamic Rule were no longer excluded from any specific profession and this helped lessen their negative stigma.[13] Many Jews migrated to areas newly conquered by Muslims and established communities there. The vizier of Baghdad entrusted his capital with Jewish bankers. The Jews were put in charge of certain parts of maritime and slave trade. Siraf, the principal port of the caliphate in the 10th century, had a Jewish governor.[14]

Although Jewish life improved under Islamic rule, an interfaith utopia did not exist.[13] Jewish people still experienced persecution. Under Islamic Rule, the Pact of Umar was introduced, which protected the Jews but also established them as inferior.[15] Since the 11th century, there have been instances of pogroms against Jews.[16] Examples include the 1066 Granada massacre, the razing of the entire Jewish quarter in the Andalucian city of Granada.[17] In North Africa, there were cases of violence against Jews in the Middle Ages,[18] and in other Arab lands including Egypt,[19] Syria.[20] and Yemen[21] Jewish population was confined to segregated quarters, or mellahs, in Morocco beginning from the 15th century. In cities, a mellah was surrounded by a wall with a fortified gateway. In contrast, rural mellahs were separate villages inhabited solely by the Jews.[22] The Almohads, who had taken control of much of Islamic Iberia by 1172, were far more fundamentalist in outlook than the Almoravides, and they treated the dhimmis harshly. Jews and Christians were expelled from Morocco and Islamic Spain.[23] Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, some Jews, such as the family of Maimonides, fled south and east to the more tolerant Muslim lands, while others went northward to settle in the growing Christian kingdoms.[24][25] In 1465, Arab mobs in Fez slaughtered thousands of Jews, leaving only 11 alive, after a Jewish deputy vizier treated a Muslim woman in an offensive manner. The killings touched off a wave of similar massacres throughout Morocco.[26][27]

Historian Mark R. Cohen writes that conclusions about Jewish life under Islamic rule can only be derived through a comparative approach. Jews of Islam experienced less physical violence than Jews under Western Christendom.[13] Cohen believes a reason for this may be that Islam, unlike Christianity, did not need to establish a separate identity from Judaism.[28] He also states that Jewish people were less threatening to Muslims than Christians during the Middle Ages.[13] Isolated events of persecution did occur but this does not change the fact that Jewish people were treated adequately.[15] Cohen also notes that many people have used the myth that Jews were mistreated under Muslim rule to bolster their political standpoints in response to propaganda.[11]

Seljuk (1077-1307) and Ottoman Turkey (1299-1922)[edit]
Jews have lived in Asia Minor for more than 2,400 years. Originally settling in Asia Minor in its Hellenistic period, they were driven out in the period of Byzantine rule between the 5th and 11th centuries, resettling there only after the occupation of much of Anatolia by Muslim Seljuk forces after the Battle of Manzikert. Jewish civilization grew and thrived with the Seljuk and Ottoman rule. For much of the subsequent Seljuk and Ottoman period, Turkey was a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, and it continues to have a Jewish population today which, at 26,000 persons, is the second biggest in the Muslim world today, after Iran.

Early Modern Period[edit]
The Ottoman Empire had served as a refuge for Spanish Jews who had been expelled from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions, especially after the fall of Muslim Spain in 1492 and Edict of Expulsion. This was also the case for the Maghreb in North Africa, where a Jewish quarter (Mellah), was installed in most large Arabian cities. Later the Jewish converts were driven out of Spain fleeing the Roman Catholic Inquisition.

In 1656, all Jews were expelled from Isfahan because of the common belief of their impurity and forced to convert to Islam. However, as it became known that the converts continued to practice Judaism in secret and because the treasury suffered from the loss of jizya collected from the Jews, in 1661 they were allowed to revert to Judaism, but were still required to wear a distinctive patch on their clothing.[29]

Confined to city quarters, the Bukharan Jews were denied basic rights and many were forced to convert to Islam. They had to wear black and yellow dress to distinguish themselves from the Muslims.[30]

Under the Zaydi rule, the Yemenite Jews were considered to be impure, and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim's food. They were obligated to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk to the left side, and greet him first. They could not build houses higher than a Muslim's or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or a donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering the Muslim quarter a Jew had to take off his foot-gear and walk barefoot. If attacked with stones or fists by Islamic youth, a Jew was not allowed to defend himself. In such situations he had the option of fleeing or seeking intervention by a merciful Muslim passerby.[31]

19th century[edit]

In 1834, in Safed local Muslim Arabs carried out a massacre of the indigenous (Old Yishuv) Jewish population of that city in the Safed Plunder.[citation needed]

In 1839, in the eastern Persian city of Meshed, a mob burst into the Jewish Quarter, burned the synagogue, and destroyed the Torah scrolls. It was only by forcible conversion that a massacre was averted.[32] There was another massacre in Barfurush in 1867.[33][34] In 1839, the Allahdad incident, the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, now known as the Mashhadi Jews, were coerced into converting to Islam.[35]

In the middle of the 19th century, J. J. Benjamin wrote about the life of Persian Jews:

"…they are obliged to live in a separate part of town…; for they are considered as unclean creatures… Under the pretext of their being unclean, they are treated with the greatest severity and should they enter a street, inhabited by Mussulmans, they are pelted by the boys and mobs with stones and dirt… For the same reason, they are prohibited to go out when it rains; for it is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet of the Mussulmans… If a Jew is recognized as such in the streets, he is subjected to the greatest insults. The passers-by spit in his face, and sometimes beat him… unmercifully… If a Jew enters a shop for anything, he is forbidden to inspect the goods… Should his hand incautiously touch the goods, he must take them at any price the seller chooses to ask for them... Sometimes the Persians intrude into the dwellings of the Jews and take possession of whatever please them. Should the owner make the least opposition in defense of his property, he incurs the danger of atoning for it with his life... If... a Jew shows himself in the street during the three days of the Katel (Muharram)…, he is sure to be murdered."[36]

In 1840, the Jews of Damascus were falsely accused of having murdered a Christian monk and his Muslim servant and of having used their blood to bake Passover bread.[37] A Jewish barber was tortured until he "confessed"; two other Jews who were arrested died under torture, while a third converted to Islam to save his life. Throughout the 1860s, the Jews of Libya were subjected to what Gilbert calls punitive taxation. In 1864, around 500 Jews were killed in Marrakech and Fez in Morocco. In 1869, 18 Jews were killed in Tunis, and an Arab mob looted Jewish homes and stores, and burned synagogues, on Jerba Island. In 1875, 20 Jews were killed by a mob in Demnat, Morocco; elsewhere in Morocco, Jews were attacked and killed in the streets in broad daylight. In 1897, synagogues were ransacked and Jews were murdered in Tripolitania.[32]

Twentieth century[edit]
Further information: Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2013)
By the late 1930s, even before the establishment of the state of Israel, conditions of Jews in many Muslim countries were rapidly worsening through a combination of decolonisation, growing Arab nationalism due to European occupation; Nazi influence in the Axis controlled parts of North Africa; and the conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine. By the mid 1970s the vast majority of Jews had left Arab and Muslim countries, moving primarily to Israel, France and the United States, as well as Great Britain and other Commonwealth nations.[38] The reasons for the exodus are varied and disputed.[38] In 1945 there were between 758,000 and 866,000 Jews living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are fewer than 8,000. In some Arab states, such as Libya which was once around 3 percent Jewish, the Jewish community no longer exists; in other Arab countries, only a few hundred Jews remain.

The largest communities of Jews in a Muslim land exist in the non-Arab countries of Iran and Turkey; both, however, are much smaller than they historically have been. Among Arab countries, the largest Jewish community exists in Morocco.

Jewish ethnic groups that have lived in the majority-Muslim world include Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Temani.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Determining what is proportionate is difficult indeed, but preferably it does not involve bombing densely populated areas. Can't Israel insert some special forces to take those Hamas facilities out?

 Iron_Captain wrote:

Determining what is proportionate is difficult indeed, but preferably it does not involve bombing densely populated areas. Can't Israel insert some special forces to take those Hamas facilities out?

JERUSALEM – In a recent boost for Middle Eastern peace efforts, the Defense Department confirmed that a raid by Navy SEALs in the West Bank had killed known extremist agitator Isa Ibn Yusuf.

The 35-year old resident was facing a federal indictment on several counts of supporting terrorism and had been accused of recruiting young men for a violent group of zealots.

“It may have taken us 40 days and 40 nights, but we got him,” said Special Operations Command head Admiral William McRaven while describing the mission.

Ibn Yusuf, who at one point claimed he would set the world on fire and that he had not come to bring peace but a sword, was discovered on Sunday during a pre-dawn raid in a cave outside of Jerusalem.

The SEALs, working closely with both the Israeli Mossad and the Palestinian National Authority, were able to locate him through a tip from a close informant, described by Pentagon sources as Ibn Yusuf’s “left hand man.”

While there were previously no definitive images of Ibn Yusuf, who has been alternately described in the media as either Caucasian or African, the SEALs identified him through several prominent scars on his hands and feet.

He was discovered only two days after newspapers suggested he had been dragged through the streets and lynched by an angry mob. Pentagon officials now believe that Ibn Yusuf may have faked his own death after an attempted shakedown of some local financiers.

Jesus wanted posterLocal witness Saul Tarsus said that the SEALs initially tried to capture Ibn Yusuf, but after he attempted to flee across a nearby body of water they unsuccessfully engaged him with multiple gunshots to the torso, limbs, and head.

Tarsus then described being knocked to the ground by a blinding flash of light after the frustrated SEALs called in a 2,000 pound JDAM strike.

The SEALs were able to recover some materials from the cave, described by the Pentagon as a “treasure trove of terrorist literature.” They also found several pieces of wood and a bucket of nails which they suspect were being used to build a crude pressure-plate IED.

McRaven explained how Ibn Yusuf first came to the attention of U.S. intelligence five years ago, after he became the leader of a fanatical religious splinter group, where his frequently apocalyptic, sometimes pseudo-Marxist rhetoric helped him attract both national attention and a large following.

“Our intelligence suggested he lacked the logistical support to feed his network,” McRaven said, “but all of a sudden he produced enough bread and fish to feed them all. That can only mean one thing: Backing from the Saudis and Pakistanis.”

Despite Ibn Yusuf’s death, local officials will be taking additional precautions to ensure there is no rioting by his followers after Friday Prayers, Saturday Shabbat, or Sunday services.

In a related story, Pentagon officials reported that Ibn Yusuf’s eleven remaining lieutenants were successfully killed this afternoon by a targeted drone strike in Galilee.

 Ma55ter_fett wrote:

 ironicsilence wrote:
Whenever tensions flare up it reminds me to look into how awesome the Israeli Iron Dome is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Dome
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/09/world/meast/israel-palestinians-iron-dome/

For a wild moment I thought it would turn out to be an actual dome made of iron...

I am disappoint.

 NuggzTheNinja wrote:
You're making the huge (and likely incorrect) assumption that the Arabs will stop attacking Israel, so long as Israel stops building settlements.

These aren't rational people.

 NuggzTheNinja wrote:
Actually, in many ways Iraq strengthened the US military. Prior to 2003 the Israelis were the premiere experts in urban combat. I firmly believe that the US does it better these days. Equipment-wise, the military was strengthened in many ways (vehicles, PPE, TTPs, ISR technologies, etc.), and the US military also gained a ton of combat experience. US trauma surgeons are now the best in the world hands down.

 sebster wrote:

Mwahaha!

Yeah, that's why the US has been so keen to pile in to so many engagements since. I mean hey, a trillion dollars and a few thousands shat away, but we learnt a couple of tricks and our surgeons have more experience.

One thing I developed over 23 years is the extreme patience I acquire to not say "Reading stupid crap from idiots like you"

 Da Boss wrote:
These threads are so depressing.

Most of the arguments made about Palestinian rights to self determination could also have been made about Ireland prior to independence you know. Or the United States for that matter. There was never any "Ireland" in the past, just a set of squabbling kingdoms. But that wouldn't have made it right for the Irish to have been exterminated, and thankfully the British didn't do so.

The award of Palestine to the Zionists was a tremendous mistake, and it's a mistake everyone in the region is living with today.

 Da Boss wrote:
Yeah, and it was fething horrible then, too.

The world is a much better place because the amount of "conquering" has died off in the last century.

Tell the people evicted from their land when Irael was created -"Nah mate it's okay, you were CONQUERED. So just move along into that less fertile marginal land and don't cause a fuss!"

 Da Boss wrote:
Yeah, and it was fething horrible then, too.

The world is a much better place because the amount of "conquering" has died off in the last century.

Tell the people evicted from their land when Irael was created -"Nah mate it's okay, you were CONQUERED. So just move along into that less fertile marginal land and don't cause a fuss!"

 Da Boss wrote:
Whembly: Are you for real? You've got to be trolling here.

I find it really difficult to understand your point of view. It's like you don't consider the Palestinians people at all.

 Da Boss wrote:

Whembly: Being forced off their land by the Zionists was their own doing? Wouldn't you fight back if that was you?

 Da Boss wrote:
What would I do if I were Israel? Damn, that's a difficult question to answer. Putting myself in the head of an Israeli? At the least, stop expanding. At the most, leave the area. Both of which you will of course deride as impossible. But the humanitarian cost of remaining is going to be huge.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

 Da Boss wrote:
What would I do if I were Israel? Damn, that's a difficult question to answer. Putting myself in the head of an Israeli? At the least, stop expanding. At the most, leave the area. Both of which you will of course deride as impossible. But the humanitarian cost of remaining is going to be huge.

When you say "leave the area" what area are you talking about?

As I recall didn't Israel pull out of the West Bank, and very shortly thereafter they were receiving rocket fire from there? That doesn't bode well for future disengagement.