>>I am not blaming it on "the Jews" exactly. What I am saying is 9/11 would not have happened if not for our (the U.S.) persistent bias for Israel in the middle east. I think we should lose that policy in the deepest part of the deepest ocean and try to live in peace.
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>Is "bias" the right word? Israel has been an ally and a strategic one. As the only democracy in the Middle East (and despite propaganda to the contrary, Israel is a democracy--Arab citizens, whether Christian or Muslim, have always had the vote), surely it's a natural alliance for a country that claims to want to spread democracy around the world.
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>Israel has been a model for the world in other ways as well. One is the absorption of immigrants. When newcomers arrive, they are provided housing, food and education quickly and efficiently, so they can become productive citizens. It wasn't Israel who encourage people to leave their homes and kept them in refugee camps for generations.
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>Israel has been a leader in environmental practice as well. Jewish settlers in the early 20th century drained swamps and cultivated barren land and made the desert bloom. I've seen propaganda about how the Israelis took all the good land and left the bad for the Arabs. Not true--it was all bad land after centuries of abuse (pretty awful for "the land of milk and honey") and the Jewish settlers made it work.
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>Yes, Israel needs US support still. Although it's a Western country in many ways, it's sitting on a tiny piece of land (a little more than 10,000 square miles, including the disputed territories--a look at a map of the area makes it clear why the West Bank is important to Israel's security) surrounded by enemies who would rather fight than accept the prescence of a Jewish state. (By comparison, Saudi Arabia alone is about 20 times the size of Israel.)
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>Is Israel perfect? Of course not, no country or government is. Is the world better off with Israel than without it? I think so.
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I am certainly not saying the world would be better off without Israel. I am saying the Palestinians have a right to their grievances. Unlike Israel, they have neither a state nor territory. They live as permanent refugees in territory controlled by a belligerent country that is armed to the teeth (thanks to the U.S.).