>>>>>>Why do you think the Americans supported the forming of the country Israel in 1947? They wanted to get them as far away from USA as possible. :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Being Jewish myself, I find this remark stupid, offensive, highly insulting and not at all funny even if you meant it as a joke. Unless you are Jewish, making Jewish jokes is a form of anti-semitism.
>>>>>
>>>>>I am rally sorry if I offended anyone, it was not intended at all. I accept and respect everyone regardless of religion, race, sexual preference or anything else. I never wanted to hurt anyone, please accept my apology. I agree that it was indeed a silly joke.
>>>>>
>>>>>That said, I mean that the forming of the country Israel should not have happened as it did. It should have been much more carefully planned, and the Palestinians should have been heard and given a fair compensation. Instead their land was simply taken from them, with little or no compensation. This is why people have been fighting in the middle east ever since. There will never be any peace there before the Israelies withdraw from the west banks, and the Palestinians are given a fair chance to live independent, peaceful lives. No matter how much people twist an bend the history, the Palestinians owned and populated the land in 1947, and had done so for many, many generations.
>>>>>
>>>>>To bring lasting peace the terrorists must of course be arrested and "disabled", but this also mean the Israeli terrorists which almost never are mentioned in the news. They are usually called policemen or soldiers, but a few of them are nothing but terrorists with a uniform to hide behind.
>>>>>
>>>>>Most people think that all the Israelis are good people and all the Palestinians are bad people, or vice versa. The truth is that all Israeli people are good people and all Palestinians are good people, with a handful of exceptions on both sides. But only a handful of bad people is enough to start a war, and even fewer are needed to keep the fighting and war from ending. That's the key problem in this conflict, most people want peace but a few bad people, on both sides, manage to sabotage any attempt to bring peace. Instead all the different "incidents" make the blood boil so it will always be a question of when will the blood "boil over" the next time.
>>>>>
>>>>>NB! If what I write can be interpreted as if I take any side, I have worded myself badly. I really take no side in this fight which has now become a war. I think the whole conflict is nothing but sad, sad, sad.
>>>>
>>>>I had better opinion about your historical knowledge. Are you aware of the fact that in 1947 palestine land was divided equally between Jews and Arabs?
>>>>Please, note that it is not the only issue that I have with your statements, but still I would like to start with this simple question.
>>>
>>>I never said that I know everything about what happened in the middle east after the WW2, and to be honest I am happy with that. To answer your question, my comment around how the dision of the land happened, was about the country borders BEFORE 1947.
>>>
>>>No offence, but I have heard about fighting, bombing, terrorist attacks and war in that area more or less every day in more than 50 years. Please try to understand that I would very much prefer to NOT hear anything about it. There's absolutely nothing I can do about this whole situation, and it doesn't make my life any better to hear about other people's misery many times every day.
>>>
>>>I am not afraid to say that I am a pacifist myself, and that does not make me very different from most Norwegians. I think there's a good reason why Norwegian diplomats and politicians are very often used as mediators in these conflicts.
>>>
>>>That said, please accept that I don't want to take any more part in the middle east discussions.
>>
>>Your decision to avoid discussing the issue that you started and where you made certain statements is a plain disrespect. Obviously, I cannot force you, but I consider myself injured party in this exchange. You cannot claim that I used any kind of attacks against you. It was the simplest question that could be answered Yes or No. Your decision to stop it means that you either don't feel your position good enough or you don't respect my opinion, especially when you make a long statement again and then in the end you say 'no more'. What the point in these additional words then? I am truly disappointed.
>
>My wish to withdraw from this discussion has nothing to do with you, I simply want to "call it a day". Plus I have absolutely nothing more to contribute with on this matter. We may have different opinions, and I accept that.

Sorry, but I tend to believe that it is not a coincidence that you selected me as a guy to stop it. Please, be assured, that I don't hint to any bigotry here; just a case of personal disrespect.