If the fact that what is now Israel was the ancient home of the Jewish people can be used to justify establishing and maintaining Israel as a modern nation, shouldn't North America be handed back over to the Native American tribes who first lived there?

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• How ironic that the Jews having a home, meant to help insure their protection from Genocide, has in fact led them into a drawn-out, bloody conflict.
  And while you do have a very good point about the establishment of Israel, I've frequently seen the ancestral homeland argument used by the Israeli government and its supporters as a retort against complaints from Palestine and others.

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  by Mr. Meaulnes on July 30th, 2008

• Indeed, those who turn to this argument often don't think through all of it's implications. Most of the modern world lives in areas that did not belong to their people groups even a thousand years ago. However, I would propose that the current, bloody conflict has it's roots in European/Western culture. History indicates that prior to the crusades, most Muslims in that geographical area lived in peace and prosperity alongside Jews and Christians. I think the current trend of militarism is merely a reaping of the whirlwind. That doesn't make either one of these things (Crusades and terrorism) right, but understanding is the first step on a long road to peace.

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  by ninja man on July 30th, 2008

• I totally agree with you on that.
  I get soooo sick of people ignorantly writing off Muslim terrorism as being based only in religious fanaticism and some irrational "Hatred of Freedom and Democracy".
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  I mean, those things are definitely factors, but failing to acknowledge the simple fact that one of the reasons (arguably the main reason) originally stated by Osama Bin Laden for organizing the 9/11 attacks *Was* the fact that he thought Palestine was unfairly attacked by Israel, with U.S. backing.
  I think a lot of the genuine politics gets 'bleached out' of or ignored in the Bin Laden clips seen by the public.

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  by Mr. Meaulnes on July 30th, 2008

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