I am sorry if I have been off this forum for the past 26 hours, but by now you have probably figured out that I am Orthodox and a Sabbath observer. By religious law I am forbidden to be on the computer or operate electrical devices until 72 minutes after sundown. Now as far as the refugee issue goes: The original Palestinians were not driven out of the land by the Jewish settlers. When the UN declared partition in 1948, the armies of 7 Arab nations declared war on the fledgling Jewish state. The leaders of those nations told the Palestinians to leave temporarily and get out of harm's way while they crushed the Jews. They set up temporary refugee camps for them in Jordan & Gaza and envisioned that it would only take a short time to complete a simple military operation after which they could return.
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the store. Against all odds, the Jews won, and these Arab countries got stuck with the refugees. It was a situation of their own making. Those Arabs that stayed in Israel became citizens and enjoy a standard of living that is higher than the average citizen in any Arab nation today. Now they want Israel to take all these people back which would put a tremendous strain on an already overburdened economy. Where is the Royal Saudi family and the oil rich rulers of the Gulf States. They could not care less about their own average citizens who live below the poverty line, let alone the Palestinians. They do not want to contribute one cent to alleviate the problem, but want to put the entire burden on Israel. Arafat himself has millions stashed away in Switzerland while his people live in squalor. I agree that Sharon is no saint. But he has been elected as the leader of his country by democratic process, just as our own President Bush was. Both can be voted out of office in the next election, should the people so desire.
I do not think the same can be said for Chairman Arafat. SOL ZELLER