To continue, Teribus,

You say,

"On both proposed partition settlements your assumption that somehow the British (then latterly the UN) got in the way is correct. It always is the burden of those trying to broker any sort of compromise between sides unwilling to compromise."

I never made the assumption that the UN got in the way. Quite
the contrary. But the British had their own agenda. No one country can broker compromises. But the UN potentially can.


You also say,

" The agreements are fragile and difficult for those "Arab "
countries involved because it is difficult for their populations
to rationalise how their governments, who for the last forty years
have been demonizing the Jews in Israel can suddenly make such agreements."

This again is an opinion, not a fact. It isn't necessarilly that the agreements are breached based on "demonization" but possibly more on agressive Israeli behavior. The "demonization" has been tempered
through the years by political realities.

The 1967 or '73 wars did not avert WWIII. If anything it makes it
more possible for them to occur today.

Here's the bottom line as I see it. Both Israel and the Arab
countries are possibly headed on a collision course due to
political intractibility. Expansion of Israeli land is contributory.
The knee-jerk unacceptance of the state of Israel on the part
of some of the Arab communities won't work either.

Israel can't attack Palestine because there is no Palestinian
state but I believe the the Palestinian people will become more militant than they are now. Israel may decide to do "ethnic cleansing". Even then, there can only be more suicide bombings and casualties on both sides.


There is no one country in the world including the US or Britain
that can act as an honest broker in this situation because
each of these countries has a political agenda that guides
it's motives.

The only answer is a strong UN that is not ignored for political
convenience by the powerful nations of the world.

The fork in the road... leading to annihilation of Israel and
many of the Arab countries....or leading to a peaceful
multilateral compromise that is agreed to by the warring parties brokered by a world body such as the UN.

Frank