I've always favored the Jewish people, I've admired their spunk and courage, their humanity and civilization, and in the case of Israel, their democracy and European culture. And I am deeply troubled by the extremism and medievality of their Muslim opponents.

But ever since I was a kid, and heard the majestic music and lyrics of Leon Uris' "Exodus"--

"This land is mine; God gave this land to me
This brave and ancient land to me"

--I've known there was some propaganda at work here, too. God never gave anybody any land, (or anything else for that matter) and even if Jews ruled there 3000 years ago, it was only after they brutally stole it from the Caananites, with the sword, which they freely admit to in their own holy books. The Jews have had no legal claim to that land since the Romans threw them out two millenia ago, or for that matter, since the Babylonians marched them off into slavery a millenium before that.

The legality of the Balfour Declaration and UN Resolution Whatever, or the many colonial powers or wars that were fought over that ground since are empty of any rights or law; ownership is all that matters, ownership can only be determined fairly through negotiation.

The Palestinians have been run off land they've worked and lived on for centuries, primarily so Jewish settlers can exercise their religious fantasies of kibbutz life behind borders defined in the Bronze Age. In their turn, the Arabs have resorted to terrorism and treachery and the massacre of civilians to make their point heard, while Jews have resorted to similar tactics to drive off people they believe have no right to land which they feel they have earned by right of conquest in response to undeclared war and sneak attack.

In the meantime, both sides have been pawns of Hellenistic invasion, Crusader occupation, Ottoman and European colonialism, superpower rivalry, and now, petroleum politics. In short, there is no right and wrong here, and it will all be settled the same way ownership of the land was settled in the New World, one tribe will take it from the other by force. That is the way all property disputes are settled, initially or eventually. It is in the very the nature of real estate, the ownership of land can always be traced back to violence. Any solution based on "rights" or "legality" is a smokescreen. You see, in His infinite wisdom, God promised this land to two separate nations.

"One does not sell the earth the people walk on."
Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux leader (1845-1877)