Reply #5: Leaving aside any attempt to understand the morality of the situation, [View All]

[megatherium]

calling for Israel to be dismantled unfortunately wouldn't help solve the problem, since the Jewish Israelis can never accept that.

I myself believe a moral case can be made for Israel: there should be a permanent refuge for Jews, a refuge they can defend, a refuge on their original homeland. (The legal case for Israel rests on the UN partition of Palestine in 1948.) But alas, the original Palestinian Arab inhabitants of the territory never consented to large scale Jewish immigration (already underway by 1900) or the founding of a Jewish state. And so Israel has been in a state of war for more or less its entire existence.

At this late date, I think the only possible solution is a two-state solution (Israel in its original borders), with suitable compensation for displaced Palestinians and their descendents. I am positive that this will eventually happen. It came close in 1994 and in 2000, but intransigence on both sides (Sharon and Arafat) prevented it. When peace comes, the entire region will prosper and amity will prevail. Not for some time though.