<"ask yourself this.......... by what legal, moral, or ethical right did we ( I.E. the western powers after WW2) hand over one nations homeland (Palestine) to another?"

It was a big mistake in hindsight. There is a lot of similarly worthless real estate on the planet that would have been a better choice.

I don't agree that we felt any need to "salve" our conscience but there is no doubt that the holocaust was the driving force in the creation of a Jewish state.

"The Palestinians have had everything they ever were, are, or could have been taken from them by force."

Not true, they never had anything to begin with and they are outcasts in the Arab world. If there were no Israel there would still be no Palestinian state.

"Terrorist"is a label, just like "freedom Fighter"

On this board many of us have agreed that a terrorist is someone that directs violence to exclusively civilian targets of no stategic value beyond the propagation of fear. I would agree that the term is over used and mis-used but i do believe it can be defined in a way to exclude any definition of freedom fighters.

For instance, the IRA killed a lot of innocents but they usually had a military or political target in mind.

"Sustained "terrorism" that we are all having to live through today doesn't arrive like some mysterious alien virus from deep space. It is a response to a deep rooted sense of injustice."

The situation in Israel/Palestine certainly involves some injustice but I believe that the worldwide sustained "terrorism" we are dealing with has little to do with a sense of injustice and a lot to do with religious fanaticism and anti-modernity.

Welcome to the board. You represent your views well.