Have to disagree with you here.

You said, >"Forced expulsion of the Palestinians from the scant remainder of their original homelands will not magically make Israel's borders less porous......."

Actually it would. Plus, the Palestinians have no "original homelands." They are refugees from Lebanon, Syria, etc. and have NEVER been organized into a nation and by definition could never have possessed an "origninal homeland."

Palestinians have been squatters on land in the Turkish Ottoman Empire, or the British Mandate lands--never a nation with either soverignty or nationality.

>"Palestinians at gunpoint will violate the national sovereignty of whatever country they are forced into (recall which countries border.....)"

This is precisely what has always happened with the Palestinians, and a good example is the situation in Lebanon. Because the Palestinians have squatted there, should they be given some of that country also?

There is no civilian population amongst the Palestinians. When fourteen year old girls strap bombs on and blow up an Israeli veggy market, her family celebrates and Saddam awards them with $25,000. Please point out the innocent victims here to me.

Most importantly, you have to realize in their drive to form a soverign government and reach for self-determination, the Palestinians developed a constitution by which they proposed to govern themselves. Only problem here was that this thirty page constitution enshrined their refusal to recognize the existence of the state of Israel.

Refusal to recognize a member nation of the United Nations, is an attempt to deny both Israel's right to self determination and all claims to national boundaries.

Hate to tell you, but this attack is a legitimate act of war.

Israel has agreed to recognize the existence of a Palestinian state, if Palestine will agree to recognize the right of Israel to have their country.

Until this happens there will continue to be armed conflict, and this continuation will minimally lead to a dimunition of the Palestinian people.

Publius