LogFAQs > #954002701

Arguments about the past are going to get nowhere, because the history of that particular stretch of land are very tortured and complex. Here's a primer (which obviously includes oversimplifications):

3000 years ago. There was a Jewish/Israeli kingdom. How similar are Jewish people today to the people of this kingdom? I'm no full expert, but I understand that there are still genetic (not to mention religious) consistencies so it's not completely wrong to draw a connection.
2500 years ago. The Jewish kingdom gets destroyed and many of the Jewish people (mostly the upper classes) were intentionally sent into exile in Babylon and elsewhere.
2000 years ago. The Jewish kingdom was starting to be rebuilt, but the Romans came and conquered them. They destroyed their temple and ushered in a new era of repression. Also, Christianity grew out of Judiasm.
1500 years ago. The territory contains a mix of Arabs, Jews, and post-Jewish Christians. However, the Roman emperor converts to Christianity so they are the favored residents of the area (as part of the Byzantines, yes).
1200 years ago. Islam is founded...again in the same general area. Arab Muslim forces capture Jerusalem, although they fight mostly against the Byzantines. In this period the Jews are not at the center of the conflict: they persist somewhat in the background.
1000 years ago. The Crusades begin. These are rather disastrous for the Jews, who were often the ones displaced for the Christian kingdoms that briefly sprang up here and there. As I understand the Jewish population was actually displaced more by the Crusades than by the Muslim conquest.
500 years ago. The displaced Jews were living all over the place in Europe, and anti-Semitism was a real problem (the Inquisition, etc)
100 years ago. Anti-Semitism was coming to a real head in Europe and many Jews moved back to Palestine (as part of the Zionism movement) given that their home-away-from-home in Europe was strongly rejecting them (and WWII was on the horizon) and given that the Ottoman Empire had just been destroyed in WWI.
80 years ago. The Holocaust occurs.
75 years ago. The surviving Jews flee to Palestine to meet up with the Zionists. There is mutual dislike between them and the local Arabs. Conflict quickly breaks out. The West supports the Jews, which was very understandable given the events of the preceding 50 (or 3000) years, who win the short wars and set up a government.

...and then nothing much changed until today, unfortunately. The situation never stabilized.

The point is: it is wrong to say that Jews don't belong in Israel/Palestine/pick your name. They were wronged and kicked out of the land by force over centuries. They have no true home elsewhere. HOWEVER, two wrongs don't make a right. (Or in this case, 12,529 wrongs don't make a right)

The situation today is that the Israelis have the power and they are abusing their power. They are morally responsible to find a true, humane, permanent solution for the Palestinians EVEN IF those Palestinians hate them, attack them, and don't share their religion. To go Spiderman on them, with great power comes great responsibility. Israelis now have that power.

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