It all began shortly after the 2nd World War, when a bunch of European Jews decided they needed a Jewish homeland on someone else's ground somewhere, and set out to accomplish that through terrorist acts in Palestine. There was resistance to those acts, but that resistance was not officially termed a "war" until the state of Israel was announced to exist. The USA was the first nation to recognize that state. I wonder why? Anyway, then it was called a war, as Carol points out. Arabs and Palestinians did not go to Europe and start a war...European Jews went to Palestine and started a war. Everything that has occurred since then has been a series of reactions and counter-reactions following that original illegal act.

And that act was a reaction to the Holocaust.

But how is it that a Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany results in a Jewish counterattack on the Muslim inhabitants of Palestine?????

Oh, well, you have to go way back to an ancient holy book to find a rationale behind that... ;-D Riiiiiightttt...

Is any of this rational or justifiable? Any of it? No. It's just the strong and paranoid and ruthless siezing opportunities to take what doesn't belong to them from someone who appears to be vulnerable. First Hitler. Then the Israelis-to-be. And later Saddam. And Syria. And the USA.

They are all scoundrels. They are all after their own gain. To take sides and pretend that one is the "good guy" and the other "the bad guy" is really a bit silly, given the fact that not one of them really gives a damn about anything except being the winner at the end of the day. It's realpolitik, not a struggle between good and evil. It's like Meyer Lansky taking on Dutch Shulz. It's criminals fighting other criminals, and may the best-armed win.