reply to post by bigyin
Some more history for you:
1) Palestine was the (mis-spelled) name that the Romans gave Israel after they have destroyed the second temple in 70AD (They renamed the province
after the Philistines which were a people from the Agean sea which were the "mortal" enemies of the jewish people). The Romans did so to erase the
connection of Jews to the land, they also built a temple for their own gods on what was left of the Jewish temple (not far from where the dome of the
rock stands today)
2) When the Mamluks controlled the area, followed by the Ottomans after them, Israel was a very backwards area, and was not very important (BTW
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran... checked out Dr. Mordechai Kedar), and since 70AD until basically the foundation of the state of Israel,
there were Jews living throughout the country (mostly in Hebron, Zfat, Tiberia and other places, Gaza among them, there was a very ancient synagogue
there, which now houses a mosque...)
3) In 1917, when the British occupied the area from the Turks (i.e. Ottomans), and the Mandate was established, they, in Nov. 29th, 1917, issued the
Balfour Proclamation, stating that Jews will receive a national home in that territory. This was later affirmed and re-affirmed in a host of other
international treaties (specifically in the 1920's and later). However, due to Arab resistance and political interests, the area which was assigned
to the Jews kept being downsized... until what we had in 1947 with the Partition agreement (which as you know, the Arabs rejected, and the Jews -
accepted, despite not liking it much)
4) Jews and Arabs didn't live all that well together, there were numerous "pogroms" against Jews throughout the arab world (in Yemen, Spain and
other places), Jews were prosecuted, and lived as "Di'mi" which is a term used for "secondhand citizens". It is true that in some Arab nations,
Jews managed to amass wealth and influence, but that usually happened in the less Muslim countries (Iraq and others).
5) Jews in Iran are a prosecuted minority, it is true that there are jews in the Maglis (the Iranian parliament) but that is more to show off than
anything real, Jews live there in fear... prosecution, just a couple of years ago, several jews were thrown in Jail for now reason.
6) It might be true that the entire thing against Iran is not about nuclear weapons, I've read in some places that they don't have much, it's just
the Arab way of sounding strong by pounding on their chest and say "we have weapons! we're strong" that Saddam did (look where it got him...)
however, it is true that their PM has stated that Israel should be wiped out (several times) not everything is broadcasted to you guys...
And to the other poster who said Israel doesn't want peace (and that it's a bunch of Nazi's - seriously? seriously?), as someone who lives in
Israel, lost friends and family members in several wars, I tell you from the bottom of my heart, we all want peace, it's only a matter of the cost -
I don't think there's a conflict on earth where the victorious side had to BEG for peace... the US/UK/Russia didn't beg for peace from Germany
after WWII, neither did the UK/France after WWI... there are so many crazy aspects here that one's mind might blow up...