So what. They aren't annexing Gaza and the whole West Bank so this is meaningless hypothetical

The Israeli government voted to endorse legislation to extend Israeli law to settlements in the West Bank on Sunday.

What does would that mean, you ask? For 47 years, the primary source of law in the West Bank has been the IDF military law code. Applying civilian law to parts —or all — of the West Bank would be tantamount to annexation, or at least be a creeping but concrete step toward that goal.

Irrespective of whether or not this latest proposal is ever passed, the vote itself broadcasts to the entire world that the majority of ministers in the Israeli government support annexing West Bank settlements — a “unilateral move” if there ever was one

This is the same kind of thinking that drives the Palestinian Right of Return

bbauska wrote:My hair has gotten longer since the military...

I think the West Bank should be an independent Palestine to which Arabs would have a right of return.

Be careful what you wish for. Here are some dots to connects

rickyp wrote:ray

Be careful what you wish for. Here are some dots to connects

You don't go back far enough. The dots go much further back.
Israel expelled Arab civilians form their homes and from the country (and massacred two villages) instead of guaranteeing their safety and thier homes when it launched its war of independence in 47.
No country stood up for the Palestinians in 47 in establishing a home country.
The CIA organized and help execute coups in Syria and Iran that ended democracies and put in place ruthless dictators.
The west and Russia sponsored despots like Saddam and the Sauds to the detriment of democratic aspirations in the area.
All of these things are important events in the long history that has produced the miserable conditions in the Middle East. And we could go further back to Western and Ottoman colonialsim...
However:
If Palestine was a good idea in 1947, its a good idea today.
Palestinians in the west bank should not remain an occupied people, with few rights just because we fear the unknown outcome of their achieving freedom.
Israel should not remain an occupier and the architect of an exploitative apartheid system because they and their supporters believe have a moral superiority over the people who's land they occupy,
The Whites in South Africa also warned everyone that if the blacks were allowed power all hell would break loose. And it hasn't been a perfect society in South Africa since blacks earned equal rights there and apartheid fell. But its still right that apartheid there ended.
When Israel eventually looses its grip on the occupied territories it won't lead to Nirvana in Palestine either. But it will be better then apartheid for both the Palestinians and the Israelis.

To quote freeman3, "Please stop sounding like a spokesperson for Fatah."

That "history" is so biased as to be unrecognizable. In fact, little of that represents anything that has occurred in this Universe. If you were any more one-sided, you'd show up wearing one of those Arafat-scarf things.

Israel expelled Arab civilians form their homes and from the country (and massacred two villages) instead of guaranteeing their safety and thier homes when it launched its war of independence in 47.

The first casualties after the adoption of Resolution 181(II) by the General Assembly were passengers on a Jewish bus driving on the Coastal Plain near Kfar Sirkin on 30 November. An eight-man gang from Jaffa ambushed the bus killing five and wounding others. Half an hour later they ambushed a second bus, southbound from Hadera, killing two more. At other places, Arab snipers skirmished Jewish buses in Jerusalem and Haifa.[18]

Irgun and Lehi followed their strategy of placing bombs in crowded markets and bus-stops.[21] As on 30 December, in Haifa, when members of the clandestine militant Zionist group, Irgun, threw two bombs at a crowd of Arab workers who were queueing in front of a refinery, killing 6 of them and injuring 42. An angry crowd massacred 39 Jewish people in revenge, until British soldiers reestablished calm.[19][22] In reprisals, some soldiers from the strike force, Palmach and the Carmeli brigade, attacked the village of Balad ash-Sheikh and Hawassa. According to different historians, this attack led to between 21 and 70 deaths.[20]

According to Benny Morris, much of the fighting in the first months of the war took place in and on the edges of the main towns, and was initiated by the Arabs. It included Arab snipers firing at Jewish houses, pedestrians, and traffic, as well as planting bombs and mines along urban and rural paths and roads.[23]

From January onwards, operations became increasingly militarized.

In all the mixed zones where both communities lived, particularly Jerusalem and Haifa, increasingly violent attacks, riots, reprisals and counter-reprisals followed each other. Isolated shootings evolved into all-out battles. Attacks against traffic, for instance, turned into ambushes as one bloody attack led to another.

On 22 February 1948, supporters of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni organized, with the help of certain British deserters, three attacks against the Jewish community. Using car bombs aimed at the headquarters of the pro-Zionist Palestine Post newspaper, the Ben Yehuda St. market and the backyard of the Jewish Agency's offices, they killed 22, 53 and 13 Jewish people respectively, and injured hundreds.[24][25] In revenge, Lehi put a landmine on the railroad track in Rehovot on which a train from Cairo to Haifa was travelling, killing 28 British soldiers and injuring 35.[26] This would be copied on 31 March, close to Caesarea Maritima, which would lead to the death of forty people, injuring 60, who were, for the most part, Arab civilians.[27]

Having recruited a few thousand volunteers, al-Husayni organized the blockade of the 100,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem.[28] To counter this, the Yishuv authorities tried to supply the city with convoys of up to 100 armoured vehicles, but the operation became more and more impractical as the number of casualties in the relief convoys surged. By March, Al-Hussayni's tactic had paid off. Almost all of Haganah's armoured vehicles had been destroyed, the blockade was in full operation, and hundreds of Haganah members who had tried to bring supplies into the city were killed.[29] The situation for those who dwelt in the Jewish settlements in the highly isolated Negev and North of Galilee was even more critical.

According to the Arab League general Safwat:

Despite the fact that skirmishes and battles have begun, the Jews at this stage are still trying to contain the fighting to as narrow a sphere as possible in the hope that partition will be implemented and a Jewish government formed; they hope that if the fighting remains limited, the Arabs will acquiesce in the fait accompli. This can be seen from the fact that the Jews have not so far attacked Arab villages unless the inhabitants of those villages attacked them or provoked them first.[30]

First of all it was a non-sequitur as I was referring to what was going on in the Arab world over the last 5 year

t sounds like the War of Independence was launched when Israel agreed to a two state solution and the Arab killed innocent civilians and then blockaded Jerusalem. Same old, same old

Both Israeli archives and Palestinian testimonies confirm killings occurred in numerous Arab villages.[6] According to Morris, the "worst cases" were the Saliha massacre with 60 to 70 killed, the Deir Yassin massacre with around 100, Lydda massacre with around 250 and the Abu Shusha massacre with 60-70.[10] In Al-Dawayima, accounts of the death toll vary. Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports 100-200 casualties,[7] Morris has estimated "hundreds"[10] and also reports the IDF investigation which concluded 100 villagers had been killed.[11] David Ben-Gurion gave the figure of 70-80.[12] Saleh Abd al-Jawad reports the village's mukhtar account[13] that 455 people were missing following the al-Dawayima massacre, including 170 women and children.[7]

n fact, little of that represents anything that has occurred in this Universe

Starting in early 1948, the Arab forces had severed the supply line to Jewish Jerusalem. On 31 March, the head of the Jerusalem Emergency Committee, Dov Yosef, introduced a draconian system of food rationing.[35][36] The bread ration was 200 grams per person.[37] The April Passover week ration per person was 2 lb potatoes, 2 eggs, 0.5 lb fish, 4 lb matzoth, 1.5 oz dried fruit, 0.5 lb meat and 0.5 lb matza flour. The meat cost one Palestinian pound per pound.[38] On 12 May, water rationing was introduced. The ration was 2 gal/person/day, of which 4 pints was drinking water.[39][40] In June the weekly ration per person was 100 g wheat, 100 g beans, 40 g cheese, 100 g coffee or 100 g powdered milk, 160 g bread per day, 50 g margarine with 1 or 2 eggs for the sick.[41] The mallow plant played an important role in Jerusalem history at this time. When convoys bearing foodstuffs could not reach the city, the residents of Jerusalem went out to the fields to pick mallow leaves, which are rich in iron and vitamins. The Jerusalem radio station, Kol Hamagen, broadcast instructions for cooking mallow. When the broadcasts were picked up in Jordan, they sparked victory celebrations. Radio Amman announced that the fact that the Jews were eating leaves, which was food for donkeys and cattle, was a sign that they were dying of starvation and would soon surrender.

You seem to have ignored the acknowledged history that

G. Israel is the only country who has ever offered the Palestinians a state (except the UN who never delivered), and that offer has been declined

rickyp wrote:fate

n fact, little of that represents anything that has occurred in this Universe

You have anything specific you think you can challenge is unsupported by fact? You appear to need to learn more history.

The Whites in South Africa also warned everyone that if the blacks were allowed power all hell would break loose. And it hasn't been a perfect society in South Africa since blacks earned equal rights there and apartheid fell. But its still right that apartheid there ended.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — To most South Africans, it is an unimaginable expense: $28 million in upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s rural homestead, with taxpayers footing the bill.

The revamp of Zuma’s sprawling private compound at Nkandla, deep in the countryside of KwaZulu-Natal province, has included a helipad, fencing, bulletproof glass, two AstroTurf soccer fields for security guards, and elevators to carry Zuma and his “very, very important visitors” between underground bunkers and the main house.

But while the president maintains these upgrades are required for security reasons, this has failed to quell South African outrage over the high cost of the project, along with further revelations that tens of millions more in state funding has been spent on roads in the area.