Terry;

I saw a documentary on PBS a few months ago that was very interesting. It was about Jews who lived in Palestine before World War II. The Jews and Arabs got along well, however a number of Jews were concerned about the future. A plan was devised that would allow Jews to receive military training.

Many Jewish men living in Palestine joined the British Army, received training, fought, and returned to Palestine. When war broke out between the Jews and Arabs, those men that were trained by the British were well prepared to fight. That is one reason so few Jews were able to defeat such a large force.

Historically, when Rome had defeated the Jewish rebellion around 70 AD, many Jews migrated to Europe. Some stayed but had no power to speak of. The Jews met persecution in countries such as Spain, and were able to settle in many other countries. Around the late 1800’s a number of Jews returned to Palestine, under the dreams of the Zionist movement, which was to return to Palestine.

The Zionist movement is several hundred years old and not a recent event. Originally, it was only a concept to return to Palestine and not to create a country. Today the term Zionism has negative connotations such as belligerence and aggression, as well as still having the original meaning.

Arab Muslim’s have occupied what we refer to as “Palestine”, since 638 AD when they captured Jerusalem. These people were nomads and considered Jerusalem a holy city, as do Jews and Christians.

An aside: Mark Twain visited Palestine in 1867. His comments indicated it was a wasteland. I enjoyed reading about his trips as well as his life. If you ever travel between Virginia City, Nevada and San Francisco, California, you will see many signs indicating, “Mark Twain was here”! I would enjoy reading what Mark Twain would have written about the conflict in Israel if he were here today.

Tom






>Reminds me of growing up in the old south (San Antonio) in the 50s.
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>I'm an SA south-sider. Still go there to get my "pork tomales" from Rubens on Rigsby and Goliad!
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>At any rate, for anyone that is interested in facts that are extremely well documented (many Israeli sources) You should check out "The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict" at :http://www.cactus48.com/truth.html.. About 40 pages produced by Jews for Justice in the Mideast. Oh, if anyone knows how to solve my problem, please let me know.
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>Most amazing that some still think that the Israelis were working that realestate for a thousand years<g>. I thought everyone knew that the UK dropped a boat load load of Eastern Europeans there in 1947.
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>Thanks for the link!