I am a Jew. I am not embarrassed to state my nationality, to identify my ancestry, to honor my history and heritage. I am old enough to remember when anti-semitism was common, then, unpatriotic, then hidden in jokes. I know that the perception of Jews changed, radically, after the War of Independance in the late 40's. The Jew, who had been, at best, a tragic victim of a common enemy, became a heroic figure by establishing his ability to defend his home against the massed forces of the Arab world. My people have held this land (much of which had been purchased from Egyptian and Syrian absentee landlords back in the 20s and 30s), developed it and salvaged it from the sands of neglect, brought the first democracy the region had ever known and withstood constant attacks from their neighbors, who, only now, are even willing to accept a Jewish state in the Middle East. The fact of ownership is, historically, determined by stability and bias. To Irishman throughout the world, a thousand years of British rule did not make their nation a de facto part of England, Great Britain, the U.K. or whatever is the presently acceptable name for their oppressers. America has been "settled" only a few centuries, but I have yet to hear of an American Israel-basher offering to return his house to whichever Native American it was "settled" from. The hipocracy of the left, on the Israel-Palestinian question is amazing to me, as I have been a lifelong leftist. I understand the principle of self interest. I suppose, if I were Palestinian, I would value the lives and welfare of my family and friends above the lives and welfare of others. I am not angry at Palestinian terrorists. I fear them, of course, but I understand their zeal. They are blindly fanatical and they have no interest in a nebulous vision of objective justice or fairness. They are dangerous and they must be stopped but, at least, their agenda is known and, in a frightening way, logical. My chagrin is reserved for those among you who equate a Hamas attack on a schoolbus with the retaliation for the attack. I have little regard for hand wringers who chant the equivilant of "That's nice, dont fight" to a tiny nation fighting for its very existance. As Mr. T would say, "I pity the fool who thinks that the fundimentalists are ever going to permit a Jewish state in their holy land." Mike Miller