>>The problem with division is did it take into account population numbers, quality of land, access to water etc. So there's no point in trying to say it was "fair" because there will always be ways one can argue it wasn't fair.
>
>I'm not going to get deeply involved in this thread, but I have to answer the "quality of land" question because I see this issue a lot.
>
>When Jewish immigrants started coming into what was then Palestine in the late 1800's and early 1900's, they found that what had once been "the land of milk and honey" was not very conducive to agriculture. These pioneers drained swamps and worked hard to make the land able to grow things. So, when Palestine (btw, the name derives from "Philistine") was divided to create Israel, it wasn't unreasonable for the reclaimed land to be part of the new Jewish state.
>
>Tamar


Just adding some few info about it....

Through enormous expenditures of human labor, swamps were drained and desert lands irrigated.

In order to increase the amount of land under cultivation, the government has completed the Israeli National Water Carrier (INWC), which brings water from the Sea of Galilee.

Major agriculture crops include vegetables, cotton, beef, poultry and dairy products, and citrus and other fruits. Citrus fruits are the country's main export crops.


Israel always invested lots of efforts in all kinds of irrigation technologies. Their expertise in this subject has been copied all over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Water_Carrier_of_Israel