IFOR - Thanks for writing, here goes:

Firstly the writers of the above are out and out Zionists who basically believe that the Palestinian people have few if any rights at all...indeed I suspect that to even use the term "Palestinian" is like a red rag to a bull for most of them.

This is an ad hominem attack. Machts nichts except it is actually a compliment to your opponents when you attack them rather than their arguments.

Secondly none seem to really deny the historic fact that the Palesinians were ethnically cleansed from their land .....it seems to be an irrelevance to the above ,but for the real life Palestinians it is overriding factor in their lives...the fact that they have been exiled,bombed,half starved,humiliated, imprisoned and beaten up by thugs who are proud to call themselves Zionists.

Your response is totally one sided. You are glossing over the historical development of a Jewish return to ancestral homelands, which occurred over time and multiple paths, and the very real antagonism facing Jews just for being Jews, the persecution of indigenous Jews in the area, and the fact that the "palestinians" were displaced as a consequence of a war that was not begun by the Jews. And of course, at the present time there IS a population of Arabs in Israel, WHERE is the population of Jews in any particular Arab country of the Middle East?

There is also a deliberate confusion betwen the Palestinan people and those who have led them. The leadership has been poor,ill judged and worse...but that does not negate the legitimate claim of the Palestinians to receive justice in international law and common humanity.

"deliberate confustion" implies you are a mind reader. I think there is some confusion is on your side and I don't presume to state whether it is deliberate. But you are not completely confused. I am encouraged that you have a poor opinion of the Palestinian leadership, as do I, except I had some respect for Hanan Ashrawi. I think Arafat was a corrupt megalomanic disaster. As for whether or not poor leadership can negate the legitimate claim of the Palestinians to receive justice, that depends on what constitutes a legitimatre claim. A man who is wronged by another man is not necessarily within his rights to blow him up.

The state of Israel has used its mighty military machine,backed by the power of the USA and others including the UK to pulverise the Palestinian resistance for decades but for some strange reason the Palestinians will not lie down and die or crawl away....the resistance keeps reasserting itself through the Intifadas,through peaceful and armed resistance and through cultural struggle.Palestinian consciousness is probably greater now than ever before despite the factional fighting in Gaza.

I have plenty of respect for the intelligence and tenacity of those who call themselves Palestinians. I suggest it is misapplied, partly due to the mis-education of so many, and the poor leadership mentioned above.

And for many across the world the mask of plucky little Israel has slipped to reveal the racism,the horror and the mass murder that has accompanied the Zionists in their attempt to wipe out the Palestinians from their land........ the UK which both took a prominent role in the resupply of the bombs and rockets used to destroy the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon.

One could easily take your whole paragraph, and substitute "Shiite" for Palestinian and "Sunni" for Israeli. Early in your response, you started with some reasonableness and logic, now you are sinking fast to diatribe. During the Summer you had little else to say but this kind of popular front loggorhea. This kind of Arab inspired violence whether it be in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, has led to an enormous amount of Arab on Arab violence.

I dont think for one moment that any of the hardened Zionists reading this will change their views but there are millions across the world including many Jewish people who are sickened by the dead end murderous solutions of the Zionists.

So how many tickets to "My name is Rachel Corrie" can I sell ya?
ifor