The history of this article starts in a recent 1948 when the region now known as Gaza first became a geographic entity. Of course that is an extension of events that occurred well before that time that do very much impact the human and political events taking place since and currently.

The United Nations establishment of Israel and the actions leading to that act by the League of Nations and and a post WW1 administrative occupying Great Britain were all opposed by the Palestinians and all surrounding Arab nations. Their protests fell on deaf ears and the welfare of the Palestinians put in second position. Ultimately Israel was forced down their throats and not unexpectedly armed conflict ensued. Israel prevailed in that initial conflict thanks in large part to communist Russia through arms support via Soviet controlled countries. During and after this initial war and for a variety of reasons some 750,000 Palestinians left their homes while another 230,000 remained in Israeli territory. Israel promptly forced the remaining 230,000 to leave. All of the Palestinian private property and lands were confiscated by Israel without reimbursement. The Palestinians were put into refuge arenas and not accepted by neighboring Arab countries. In 1946 Jewish settlers owned around 7% of Palestine and by 1949 the country of Israel owned 93% of that same area. Those lands were taken and kept to this day. The United Nations passed a resolution calling for the reinstatement or reimbursement for these lands in 1949. Israel refused to comply then and still refuses to do so today.

Today we have the area known as Gaza. It is kept in a near concentration camp condition by the Israeli government that controls every aspect of its existence. The welfare of every occupant relies upon the good will (or lack thereof) of Israel. Israel took these peoples lands and have sequestered them in an adversely managed pig pin. Today there are close to 9000 Gaza Palestinians per square mile living under the constant eye of an occupying country (by UN definition) in virtual squalor. That they squirm and fight for their rights is only to be expected. The most recent act of Israeli management was to cut off all fuel for these people to the extent that zero power was available for any purpose (including hospitals). Israel made this problem and it alone is responsible for the deplorable plight of these people and their understandable armed belligerence.

Israel finds itself in the unique position of meting out the same sort of treatment they once received from Nazi Germany. The intractable party here is not the underfoot Palestinians but the aggressor Israelis. The situation is nearly as utterly shameful as was Hitler's death camps.

well, it solved the european 'jewish question'. since palestinian arabs don't vote in american elections, the resulting 'palestinian question' doesn't matter.

israel will continue to be available for peace talks, as long as the accepted conditions are that they keep their conquest, and the vanquished stop fighting for what was once theirs.

damned if i'd stop fighting. would you?

Interesting phrase; since it would also apply to the Jews, who occupied the area for hundreds of years before the Roman destruction of 70 CE, and continued to have a presence there until present times.

Didn't seem to bother the "Palestinians" when the Egyptians administered the Gaza Strip (or the Jordanians the West Bank). As to the Palestinian People: Historically, who are they, since there never was a nation of Palestine, and most of the residents there presently are made up of immigrants from all surrounding areas, including Moslems, Christians, and Jews.

So, just who has a right to claim "what was once theirs"?

Exactly. That's why I never felt bad about the scramble for Africa.

mrachmuth...Sorry but no Israeli who moved onto taken Palestinian property could trace any family ownership back some 1,700 years to when it may have been owned by a another Jew. Yet the people who did own that property had owned it for at least several hundred years under Turkish and then English rule. Even today those Palestinian families can trace title to the very properties in question.

Besides if you genuinely feel that a 1,700 year old property right claim is valid then be ready to return a ton of land the the American Indian tribes who owned big chinks of this country only 700 years ago.

That there was never a "country" of Palestine is of no consequence. There was never a "country" of Jordan either and it was formed around the same time. After WW1 the League of Nations mandated England and other Western powers in the Middle East to return control to those peoples who were in control there before. There were no Jews in control of any of that area before or after WW1. Every other country or region was turned back over to Arab control with a similar mix of Christians, Arabs of many sects and Jews except one, Israel.

And no "Palestinian" can make such a claim, either.

Please tell why the Jews shouldn't have a homeland "created" for them, buth the Jews should. Remember, there never was nation, nationality, religion, or ethnic group known as "Palestinian" until relatively recent times.

The majority of Jordanians are Palestinians. In 1948, the Partition of the Mandate of Palestine (which was formerly the Ottoman Empire's province of Palestine, nat a separate nation of Palestine) created two new nations; a Jewish state, with less than 40% of the territory and a Palestinian state with over 60% of the territory, and both Jordan and Egypt took control of that Palestinian territory. At the same time, all the surrounding Moslem states took the land and possessions of the Jews who were living in the Moslem lands, including in the West Bank of Judea, and sent them packing, with no compensation. As many Jews were bereft of their land as were Palestinians who left what became the state of Israel.

Why isn't (or wasn't) Jordan the Palestinian state? Why aren't the Jews who never left Judea allowed to have a state of their own? Why aren't the surrounding Moslem states equally critised and made to pay compensation or care for those they have oppressed or exploited?

Yes, Europe created Israel to compensate for a wrong that they had done many times to their Jewish populations. But, what better place to allow the Jews to establish a place of their own, than a small sliver of a land that had always been associated with them? A perfect solution, no. But neither is it an implausible or wrong solution.

"...but the Palestinians should?"

In the 19th century a bunch of Europeans got hyped up about the Nation-State. A lot of nation-states were created and a lot of ethnic cleansing was used to reinforce those nations as repositories of the national ethnic group.

The initial waves of Ashkenazim to the Levant were part of this tradition.

They radically altered the demography of the Levant to the detriment of the Muslim and Christian Arabs that already lived there.

The Arabs were understandably unhappy with this situation and with the international community's grant of 66% of the land of Israel/Palestine to the 33% of the population that was Jewish and owned only 5% of the land.

What did Israel do to address this injustice between 1948 and 1967?

After 1967, Israel began to violate international law by colonizing parts of disputed territory acquired by war.

What has Israel done to address this injustice?

More important to an American, why has the US been supporting all this diplomatically and monetarily for decades?

Both groups have a right to be there. This is why a one-state solution should be an ideal goal, not a two-state solution, which perpetuates the Palestinian ghetto.

It doesn't matter if you call Jordan the Palestinian state or not. It also doesn't matter whether you dispute the validity of the name "Palestinian". We're talking about the many thousands of Arab people who had lived in what is now Israel and the occupied territories for generations. It is undeniable fact that thousands were forced from their homes during the formation of Israel. Many others left voluntarily in the hopes they could return. It is true that some Jews were forced from Arab countries at the same time. Most left voluntarily.

A key difference is we're talking about those Arab refugees who left or were forced out from Israel and are now living in occupied lands. They have limited rights and are often treated horribly by the occupying power. There are no analogous Jewish refugees who are in a similar limbo. Many Palestinians are settled in other Arab countries or the West - we're not talking about them. Jordan is almost 50% Palestinian I believe - those people are doing fine. So you can call Jordan the Palestinian state if you like, but it doesn't affect the issue of the unjust treatment of those Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

The Palestinians in occupied areas should either have their own country or should be Israeli citizens. Of course, Israel would never allow the latter because it would mean Israel would no longer be a Jewish majority state. Why is it that we oppose religious discrimination everywhere else but it's ok for Israel to do whatever it needs to in order to keep it's population mostly Jewish, even if means our tax dollars directly funding a government which runs these occupied areas as concentration camps?

I don't think you have any idea what a concentration camp was. Deplorable as the conditions in Gaza may be, your hyperbole furthers no objective in this debate. So tell us, where in Gaza are Palestinians rounded up and gassed to death?

"Concentration camp" was a term coined during the Boer War, not WWII. It described the camps the British used to hold the Afrikaners. The camps weren't designed as abattoirs.

You are thinking of Death Camps.

I seriously doubt the Palestinians would accept a one state model. Remember the events leading up to the 1948 conflict the subsequent aftermath?

I don't see how that defends the comment though. Gaza is NOT a concentration camp. The only thing keeping that place from turning into a paradise is the occupants consistent and STATED efforts to destroy Israel. They are the architects of their own misery by concentrating their efforts on destruction and hatred, not constructive efforts.

You are correct it's not a concentration camp. Gaza wasn't built as a camp to hold a population. So what. That's just a semantic argument.

Gaza is a piece of territory that has been fenced off from the rest of the world. So the effect is basically the same as a camp--an isolated population that can be better controlled.

Hamas may want to destroy the Israel. But Israel has been steadily destroying the Arab Levant for over 100 years. (For the sake of brevity I will call the relevant part of the Levant "Palestine"/"Palestinians" even though the automatic counter argument by many is that there never was a state named Palestine.)

The Palestinians have suffered dispossession and abuse for decades and most of it is undeserved. Much of it has been visited on them by the Yishuv, and later Israel, in order to serve the interests of the Yishuv and Israel.

The Palestinians have tried war and peace-making and the end result in both instances is that more land is lost to Israel.

The Palestinians inside Israel don't make trouble and yet they do not enjoy all the benefits of living in Israel that Jewish Israelis enjoy.

The Gazans are not all Hamas militants but they share Hamas' imprisonment in the huge prison Israel has constructed.

I don't think either the Palestinians or the Israelis are angels. I also think the huge US monetary (public and private, direct and to compliant neighbors) and diplomatic support for Israel allows it to play a game designed to maximize the amount of land it holds onto.

Therefore I think we are wasting our money and are not really contributing to a just peace in the most efficient manner possible.