Good points, EBarnacle. You're right, the world does NOT respect a people without a country...because...those people do not possess sufficient firepower and money to command respect in what is essentially a world community run by ruthless robber barons. Yes, the Jews and the Romany and a few other groups like Kurds, Armenians, the Japanese Ainu, or the Vietnamese Montagnards have had to deal with being stateless people for lengthy periods of time (as have Native Americans of various types), and that's a tough spot to be in. No doubt. You are not taken seriously on the world scene unless you have borders, territory, resources, a flag, a national treasury, and a well-armed modern military of your own standing at the ready to apply deadly force.

The #1 reason Israel fights so hard for that piece of land is because they are surrounded by enemies...obviously! The #2 reason would appear at times to be that they have ambitions to settle further areas abutting on that piece of land, but the policy tends to shift back and forth some on that, depending which way "the wind blows".

I don't think it's Israel that is exactly fighting to "dominate the Middle East", I think it's the USA who is doing that, and Israel is serving as a junior partner in the effort. The one hand washes the other, and they work together. Israel hopes to gain permanent security by seeing its main opponents crushed to the point where they could never again be a direct threat. That's not easy to achieve, but I think Israel hopes to see both Iran and Syria eventually smashed by a combination of American and British and Israeli military power...but the greater part of it would of course be American...specially in the case of Iran.

The USA would get to control the oil through client administrations in the invaded countries and Israel would get what they think of as security...so they imagine.

I think it's actually an unworkable strategy which will lead instead to a Third World War, but that's just my take on it.

I can understand why Israel fights as hard as they do. From their point of view it makes a lot of sense. I can also understand why Hezbollah, Hamas, and the other Muslim enemies of Israel fight as hard as they do. From their point of view it makes a lot of sense.

What would make even MORE sense, though, would be for them ALL to leave each other alone, and for the USA to leave people alone too...but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen! There's too much $$$money$$$ at stake. Not a chance that it's going to happen.

Not one of them really has even a smidgin of respect or tolerance for their enemies of choice, and not one of them has any goodwill or any real desire for anything but "victory".

My prediction is that the victory they all seek will elude them, no matter what they do. They're all caught up in a game that leads to nowhere but more suffering. The ordinary people will be the ones who pay...just as they are now.

The only sensible thing they can possibly do is get sick of the bloodshed and reach an accomodation...as the Irish finally seem to have done in their long dispute.