Hamas o/t

[regis80]

I do know a fair bit. For instance there has never been a country called Palestine in the whole of history. My understanding is the Romans gave the area the name Palestina. After they left the name pretty much disappeared.

Before Roman times there was a kingdom of Israel and a kingdom of Judah.

Then after WWI along come us good old Brits ever ready to get involved and not knowing what else to call this area of numerous tribes that had never had a national identity we now had a mandate to rule and revived the name Palestine. (Emphasis that is my understanding and if anyone knows differently I am all ears)

Can I ask a question. Is there anyone who believes that Israel didn't exist and there was a state of Palestine it would be any more stable than the basket cases that are in the area now? Hamas in Gaza is Sunni and Hezbollahi n Lebanon is Shia and they don't exactly see eye to eye. The destruction of Israel is about all they agree on. And then you have Fatah on the West Bank. The reason the Arabs lost in 1947 when they had overwhelming advantages is they spent as much time fighting amongst themselves as they did Jews. I envisage another Syria or Lebanon.

I have visited Israel and spent time in Arab towns, the West Bank and Jerusalem only a few months after there had been 'trouble' What surprised me was how everyone got on. In Jerusalem we moved from Christian to Jewish to Arab quarter as did the locals without any checks.

It needs Regis' Rabbi and a Palestinian with the vision of Arafat for peace to have any chance. Meanwhile the extremists on both sides just get more extreme!

Thanks 9goals for that explanation.