Thank you for sharing that, David. We don't agree on much, but we can agree that having the luster taken off of one's fondest memories is not pleasant.

It is sad indeed. I can get pure politics and news in scores of places. But a personal perspective like yours is more than worth the quick read.

Thank you David.

David, thanks for the heartfelt post. Those early rabbis were prophetic in condemning Zionism as harmful to the Jews and everybody else.

The only way Jews would have worked out living in Palestine is if they didn't create a separate two tiered Jewish state and ethnically cleansed so many people.

They should have realized that they depended on the sympathy of the native inhabitants, regardless of what some ancient book said or who lived there for x many years ending 2000 years earlier.

The creation of a Zionist state and the cleansing was an epic FU, and the original sin of the conflict.

Bob Marley's "War" sums it all up perfectly:

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned -
Everywhere is war -
Me say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a mans skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -
Me say war.

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
That hold our brothers in angola,
In mozambique,
South africa
Sub-human bondage
Have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed -
Well, everywhere is war -
Me say war.

War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south -
War - war -
Rumours of war.
And until that day,
The african continent
Will not know peace,
We africans will fight - we find it necessary -
And we know we shall win
As we are confident
In the victory

Of good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah!
Good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah!
Good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah! /fadeout/

Look across the entire Arab lands. You will find 99% Muslim and a few persecuted "others". The last Christians are being "cleansed" as we speak. Islam simply will not tolerate others and have been enabled by oil money to assert the rejection.

When the age of oil ends, you'll see a political settlement ... simply because Hez/Hamas/... has run out of funds.

It doesn't matter what Israel does, nice/mean, they just have to hold on until oil is replaced as a primary fuel.

Israel's most daunting challenge facing the future is the past - or, rather, it's inability to escape the past. It's attempting to recreate an homogenous state, based on common religious values (and, really, ethnicity), in a world that is supposedly moving toward multicultural pluralism. (In reality, the world is much more nationalistic than it ever was, only now the nation-state identity is strongest in the developing world.) To countenance this with acceptance as a modern, western nation, Israel demands a double-standard appraisal of its policies. It can practice apartheid and maintain qualified citizenship status for non-Jews because of Jewish suffering in the past. It can ignore international nuclear agreements because it needs the ultimate weapon to defend itself - because of depredations Jews suffered in the past. It can thumb its nose at international intiatives because those standards failed to protect Jews and Israel itself. In the past. Israel is trapped by its own reality and mythology of victimhood and triumph. And these snares draw their power from the fact they're anything but current; they reach out... from the past.

David give me a break. Your experience in Isreal one of the most advanced nations from science to literature.A nation of civil liberty and democracy,deserves more then your pulp fiction account of your Isreali lover on a Tel Aviv morning.

P.S. I sincerely want answers to those questions..because since I asked myself those questions... I found my answers disturbing...because I would probably do things that would make Israels responses weak. And Im sure there are better ways but I cant think of any
Other facts you may find very interesting but will probably confuse you even more...google the prime Ministers of Israel...not their history AS prime ministers but their history before what they did and how they rose to that power....and google Yassir Arafat....and find out what he wanted to do with his life and what he studied.

I think one of the problems about this nasty situation is that Only Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel has occupied a nation for more than 50 years. It has created an apartheid state with a huge wall separating the two “to stay safe from the terrorist”. It has denied the Palestinians right to a state and the refuges have no right to return to their home land. The number of settlements is increasing, and the life of the Palestinians is miserable as hell. 700 hundred roadblocks/ checkpoints are in effect as we speak, and the Gazans have been deprived from their basic human rights which are food and medical care, for few years now. Israel has a closed all borders from entering or exiting any goods. Can’t you see why Palestinians such as “Hamas” will rise and resist this occupation? Hamas homemade rockets have killed 12 mostly soldiers in the past 12 days and Israel has killed 680 and more to come. Hamas was the elected government in Palestine, now if Israel is not happy about it it has no right to bomb innocent people and close the borders to ambulances and medical care. This is an illegal war and Israel is committing war crime and it still blames the victim.

Please see the below webpage for more facts
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article8

BillWalker - I love that song. But its not Bob Marley's song...the lyrics are from a speech given by the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Salassie....and the comparison couldn't be further off the mark. Ethnic Cleansing?!? Jews are ethnic cleansing?!? In an are where they amount to a frcation of 1% of the population....and have been nearly killed off several times. There is a BIG difference between "ethnic Cleansing" and simply trying to survive as a people!!
Arabs in Israel are afforded many many more rights in Israel than they are in most Arab countries! It is sad to see so many people's perception skewed by media.
- In most Arab countries the leaders live a plush life while the citizens struggle to survive below poverty level. In this case it is easy to blame Israel and the "Politics" instead of looking in the mirror.
- Most arab nations have openly stated that they seek the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Has Israel said the same about any nation? Would anyone in the world not fight hard if someone made that statement about them?
- Many many Arabs live happily in Israel. A life with greater success and options than they would have in any Arab nation. How many Israelis live in Gaza? Or would be welcome in a Palestinian state? none...unless they are POWs.

I encourage you to watch the attached video:
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

Please watch it and feel free to check the references....rather than just reading propoganda headlines....

Genocide. Ethnic Cleansing. Apartheid.

These are words that Israel and the Jews are very familiar with. It is incredibly biased and myopic to accuse Israel of any of these.

When blindly throwing these accusations out there, please explain it in the context of the greater Middle East (not just the "Plestinians")....where Muslim/Arab countries are actively "cleansing" and creating strict Muslim governments where their citizens have limited rights. And that each of these countries has stated their sole goal as the destruction of Israel and the elimination of the Jews.

Someone - Butterfly, RayRay, San Fernando - any of you making these statements, please clarify this for me.

I feel horrible for any innocent people that are killed - Arab, Jewish, Israeili - anyone. It is a horrible atrocity. But it is not at the hands of Israel as the media would have you believe. It is as much or more the fault of the Arab governments and leaders that benefit from this maintained state of chaos.

I am sorry that it is not as simple as we would like.