I meant to say more in response to Bobad. As far as I know, "the Jordanians" didn't exists at any of the many times that the Jews suffered "ethnic cleansing"; but they did more-or-less level the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem when they occupied the Old City 1948-67 - and that was a shame and a travesty.

But the Arab peoples have lived in Israel as long as the Jews have. The Arabs were there a couple of millennia before they became Muslim. So you can't say the Muslims have no right there because they were latecomers and weren't there until the 7th century. They were there long before that - they just had different religions.

I think it's clear that both Arabs and Jews have a right to live in Israel - and in many ways, they live together and make things work and have built a beautiful nation. But there are those in power on both sides who profit from the conflict, and the conflict serves to preserve their power.

These people in power are not necessarily bad people, and it's useless to moralize against them even if they are "bad" in our eyes. They just see things differently. They have no concept of the impact of suffering and poverty and powerlessness. The things that little people suffer, are beyond their comprehension. To them, it's all about what's politically expedient. And polarizing the masses and fomenting conflict is politically expedient, so they continue to do it and continue to live in comfortable oblivion to the suffering of so many.

-Joe-