Hezbollah returns Israeli soldiers' bodies in prisoner exchange

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
why do your "izzies" keep stealing land from the palestinians? why do your izzies keep the palestinians terrorized daily?

why did you stole the land from the Indians?
shall we play "The chicken and the egg" game

Traveller wrote:

<quoted text>
The Jews were expelled or mass departure from Arab states 856,000 according to Arab stats from 1948 to 1970.
Some 600,000 resettled in Israel.
Their descendants, and those of Iranian and Turkish Jews, now number 3.06 million of Israel's 5.4 to 5.8 million Jewish citizens.
Jewish property in Arab countries would be valued today at more than $300 billion and Jewish-owned real-estate left behind in Arab lands at 100,000 square kilometers (four times the size of the State of Israel).

"The Jews were expelled or mass departure from Arab states 856,000 according to Arab stats from 1948 to 1970."

yes, exactly, starting in 1948. why do you suppose this started in 1948?

Apostle68 wrote:

<quoted text>
You apparently do not know the history of the region. Jews have an ancient and biblical connection to Israel.The Jews did not displace anyone, because very few of the people who were there actually owned the land. Most were absentee owners residing elsewhere. Another fact hardly mentioned by the "new historians" is that the arriving Jews never threw anyone off any land. All land was purchased legally from the original owners. Furthermore, top dollar was paid for this land which, in many cases, was uninhabited and hardly more than swamp land and rocky terrain. Only about 120,000 Arabs resided in an area that now comprises the State of Israel, Jordan and the so-called "West Bank" [Judea and Samaria] in between. By 1890, the number of Jews who had settled in Palestine reached 50,000 and, by 1907, numbered 100,000.
Most of the Arabs in "Palestine" were interlopers and squatters originating from Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and other lands who simply took possession of pieces of land. The historical root-cause of their problem and frustration is the fact that the countries they came from (Egypt, Jordan, Syria) have refused to let them return. The Arab campaign against Israel is rooted not in any negotiable grievances but in a basic opposition to the very existence of Jewish sovereignty in what they perceive as THEIR Middle East!
The injustice in the world comes from the wealthy Saudis and other arab territories who use Gaza to detract from Islamic injustices around the world.

"Jews have an ancient and biblical connection to Israel.The Jews did not displace anyone, because very few of the people who were there actually owned the land."

well, once again, your claim is that "God" gave you this land. myths are nice, but real history is better.
i actually think you know better but are just trying to spin ignorant americans into buying your mythology, or to put it quite clearly, your lies.
aipac is so strong, you probably don't need to put in your 2 cents, american politicians are totally scared to go against aipac, so relax

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
"Jews have an ancient and biblical connection to Israel.The Jews did not displace anyone, because very few of the people who were there actually owned the land."
well, once again, your claim is that "God" gave you this land. myths are nice, but real history is better.
i actually think you know better but are just trying to spin ignorant americans into buying your mythology, or to put it quite clearly, your lies.
aipac is so strong, you probably don't need to put in your 2 cents, american politicians are totally scared to go against aipac, so relax

I do not believe that God gave me the land. I do believe that through history, mandate and battle Israel has the right to exist, like any other nation. Jews were always there and they did not displace anyone. Please do not discredit Israels right to exist. One they are recognized as a sovereign nation they will be in a position to negotiate for peace.

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
"The Jews were expelled or mass departure from Arab states 856,000 according to Arab stats from 1948 to 1970."
yes, exactly, starting in 1948. why do you suppose this started in 1948?

Life was very hard for the Jews in Arab nations. They endured heavy taxes and persecution.

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
"Jews have an ancient and biblical connection to Israel.The Jews did not displace anyone, because very few of the people who were there actually owned the land."
well, once again, your claim is that "God" gave you this land. myths are nice, but real history is better.
i actually think you know better but are just trying to spin ignorant americans into buying your mythology, or to put it quite clearly, your lies.
aipac is so strong, you probably don't need to put in your 2 cents, american politicians are totally scared to go against aipac, so relax

A little bit of educational history for those who don't know history. "palestine" as we know it today, is a fictional land. The "palestinans" say they are descendants of the philistines. Historically, the philistines only lived in the gaza area and up a few more miles along the shoreline. The Jews have had a presence in Israel from about 1200 BC by the Merneptah Stele, which refers to the victory the egyptians had over the people of Israel (the Tribes of Israel also known as the Israelites). The United Monarchy (also known as the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah) was when all the Tribes of Israel unified under one country. The capital of the United Monarchy was Jerusalem, this occurred around 1050 BC. The United Monarchy was then split into 2 sister states, the Kingdom of Israel (including Samaria as its capital) and the Kingdom of Judah (including Jerusalem as its capital) around 930 BC. During the time of the Kingdoms, many wars were brought upon them. Subsequently, too many wars caused the Kingdoms to collapse and the Kingdoms fell to the babylonians, persians, macedonians, assyrians, etc., but still maintained a Jewish presence. During the roman empire, the land that the Kingdoms were in was then named the Iudaea Province around 63 BC, which included Judah and Samaria. The "west bank" as it is called, is actually Judah and Samaria. The Jews revolted 3 times because of discrimination, religious persecution, desecration and other reasons. On the final revolt, the Bar Kokhba revolt, happening around 132 AD. The romans suppressed the revolt. The roman empire got annoyed with the revolts, so to punish the Jews, the roman empire renamed the Iudaea province to "syria-palaestina" to insult the Jews and disconnect them from their homeland. They renamed the Iudaea province to "syria-palaestina" because the long time enemies of the Jews are the assyrians and the philistines. They then separated "syria-palaestina" into 2 provinces to "palaestina I" and "palaestina II". After the roman empire fell the lands name stayed and "palaestina I and II" combined to become "palaestina". The name stayed "palestine" (translated into English) until the british mandate ended in 1948. So as you can see, "palestine" is a made up land. "palestinians" are actually in Jewish lands. And to really prove its Jewish land, there is scientific proof, that "palestinians" are descendants of Jews and christians. Read this:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/tcgapdf/Nebel-HG-00...

"According to historical records part, or perhaps the majority, of the Moslem Arabs in this country descended from local inhabitants, mainly Christians and Jews, who had converted after the Islamic conquest in the seventh century AD (Shaban 1971; Mc Graw Donner 1981). These local inhabitants, in turn, were descendants of the core population that had lived in the area for several centuries, some even since prehistorical times (Gil 1992). On the other hand, the ancestors of the great majority of present-day Jews lived outside this region for almost two millennia. Thus, our findings are in good agreement with historical evidence and suggest genetic continuity in both populations despite their long separation and the wide geographic dispersal of Jews."

As you can see, the "palestinians" have no claim over the land they say they have been in since the beginning.

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
"The Jews were expelled or mass departure from Arab states 856,000 according to Arab stats from 1948 to 1970."
yes, exactly, starting in 1948. why do you suppose this started in 1948?

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riot...

The first Arab riots of the Mandate period took place in Jerusalem in the intermediary days of Passover, in March 1920 ("Bloody Passover"). They were instigated by Arabs acting on unfounded rumors of Jewish actions against Arabs. The British military authorities did not intervene in the Arab attacks, while Vladimir Jabotinsky and other Jews were arrested for organizing a self-defense league. In April 1920, Joseph Trumpeldor and others were killed in the defense of Tel Hai, a settlement in the Upper Galilee. These developments led to the founding of the Haganah on June 15, 1920.

Haj Amin al-Husseini emerged as one of the leaders of the 1920 Arab riots in Palestine and incited the masses to murder Jews and loot their homes. While only in his late twenties, he became the youngest ever Mufti of Jerusalem in 1921, supported by the British.

May 1921 brought new violence in Jaffa followed by large-scale attacks on Rehovot, Petah Tikva, and other Jewish areas. The death toll among the Jews was 47 with 140 wounded. Yosef Hayyim Brenner, the distinguished socialist pioneer and author, was among those murdered. Arab casualties of 48 killed and 73 wounded were almost entirely due to British military action. The main lesson was the power of the Arab masses and the relative ineffectiveness of the Jewish defense.

Sir Herbert Samuel, The High Commissioner, yielded to the demonstration of power: he ordered a temporary halt to Jewish immigration and began negotiations with the Arab Executive Committee. The outcome of these negotiations was the June 1922 White Paper issued by Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill.

The riots were investigated by the Haycraft Commission, who said in their summary report:

* The racial strife was begun by the Arabs, and rapidly developed into a conflict of great violence between Arabs and Jews, in which the Arab majority, who were generally the aggressors, inflicted most of the casualties.

But then the Commission rationalized the cause of the attack, in a pattern that is still seen in the 21st Century:

* The fundamental cause of the riots was a feeling among the Arabs of discontent with, and hostility to, the Jews, due to political and economic causes, and connected with Jewish immigration, and with their conception of Zionist policy as derived from Jewish exponents.

This pattern repeated itself over the decades: Arab riots with Jewish casualties, British official inquiry, followed by appeasement of the Arabs.

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
"The Jews were expelled or mass departure from Arab states 856,000 according to Arab stats from 1948 to 1970."
yes, exactly, starting in 1948. why do you suppose this started in 1948?

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riot...

From 1922 through 1928 the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was relatively peaceful. However, in late 1928 a new phase of violence began with minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem. These arguments led to an outbreak of Arab violence in August 1929 when Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, fomented Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering the mosques and other sites holy to Islam. Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itback al-Yahud "Slaughter the Jews!"

On August 22, 1929 the leaders of the Yishuv met with the British Deputy High Commissioner to alert him of their fears of a large Arab riot. The British officials assured them that the government was in control of the situation. The following day the Riots of 1929 erupted throughout the Palestine Mandate, lasting for seven days.

On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa, and other parts of the country. The Old City of Jerusalem was hit particularly hard. By the next day, the Haganah was able to mount a defense and further attacks in Jerusalem were repulsed. But, the violence in Jerusalem generated rumors throughout the country, many carrying fabricated accounts of Jewish attempts to defile Muslim holy places, all to inflame the Arab residents. Villages were plundered and destroyed by Arab mobs. While attacks on Jews in Tel Aviv and Haifa were thwarted by Jewish defenses, there were Jewish deaths in Hebron, where 67 Jewish men and women were slaughtered and Safed, where 18 Jews were killed, as well as scattered other losses totaling 133 Jewish deaths, with more than 300 wounded.

The Arab violence in Hebron was one of the worst atrocities in the modern history of Israel. On the afternoon of Friday, August 23, 1929 Jerusalem Arabs came to Hebron with false reports of Jews murdering Arabs during the rioting there, even saying thousands of Arabs had been killed. Despite the fact that Jews and Arabs in Hebron had been on good terms, a mass of frenzied Arab rioters formed and proceeded to the Hebron Yeshiva where a lone student was murdered. The next day, the Jewish Sabbath, the killing continued as an Arab mob of hundreds surrounded homes where Jews sought refuge, broke in and murdered scores of Jews in a bloody rampage.

The dead Jews that day included Eliezer Dan Slonim, a man highly esteemed by the Arabs. He was the director of the local English-Palestine bank whose many clients were Arabs, and was the sole Jewish member of the Hebron Municipal Council. He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him. Twenty-two people died in Slonim's house that day including his wife and two young children.

By the end of the riot, during which the British police did nothing to protect the Jews or stop the violence, sixty-seven Jews were dead and hundreds wounded. The survivors were isolated in a police station for three days while the Arabs rampaged through their houses, stealing and destroying Jewish property, unmolested by the British authorities. At the end of the three days the Jews were sent to Jerusalem, exiled from their homes for the crime of being a victim of the Arab riot. Hebron's ancient Jewish quarter was empty and destroyed. For the next 39 years no Jew lived in Hebron, not until after it was liberated by the Israeli military during the Six Day War in 1967.

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
"The Jews were expelled or mass departure from Arab states 856,000 according to Arab stats from 1948 to 1970."
yes, exactly, starting in 1948. why do you suppose this started in 1948?

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riot...

In April 1936, riots broke out in Jaffa commencing a three-year period of violence and civil strife in Palestine that is known as the Arab Revolt. The Arab Higher Committee, headed by the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, led the campaign of terrorism against Jewish and British targets.

The Arabs began by proclaiming an Arab general strike and boycott of Jewish enterprises and products. They made demands on the British Mandate administration, principally:

* An end to Jewish immigration
* An end to transfers of land to Jewish owners
* A new "general representative government"

The strike quickly led to a campaign of terror against Jewish people and lands. Seventeen Jews were killed the first day, with little action by the British to stop the rioters. Sparked by the Mufti's agitators, armed bands of Arab terrorists attacked Jewish villages and vehicles, as well as British Army and police forces. By August 1936, responding more to attacks on British assets than to the Jewish losses, the British began a military crack-down on the Arab terrorists.

The Arab strike ended in October 1936 and a temporary peace between Arabs and Jews prevailed for almost a year. Then, in September 1937, following the July report by the Peel Commission, the violent tactics resumed. Armed Arab terrorism, under the direction of the Higher Committee, was used to attack the Jews and to suppress Arab opponents. This campaign of violence continued through 1938 and then tapered off, ending in early 1939. The toll was terrible: Eighty Jews were murdered by terrorist acts during the labor strike, and a total of 415 Jewish deaths were recorded during the whole 1936-1939 Arab Revolt period.

What was the result? The British military suppressed the Arab terrorists, but the British government in effect rewarded them with the publication of the 1939 White Paper, a pro-Arab policy statement that effectively ended the British committment to the purpose of the Palestine Mandate.

Now suzu, that all happened before 1948, what do you say to say about that?

what do you have to say about that.*

Israel1948 wrote:

Now suzu, that all happened before 1948, what do you say to say about that?

why do you think that the expulsions started in 1948?
and please don't be so verbose, don't have time for such overlong responses, don't read them.
but who do you suppose the israelis expelled from the villages they occupied?
you are absolutely ridiculous in your insistence that there were no palestinians living in the land called palestine. even israeli historians know this. time for you to give up your silliness.
you cannot admit that you are a brutal selfish people these days. but that;s the fact of the situation.
incredible selfishness, selfcherishing, inability to have compassion for anybody outside your tribe.

If the palestinians want a true palestine then they should only be in gaza.

A little bit of educational history for those who don't know history. "palestine" as we know it today, is a fictional land. The "palestinans" say they are descendants of the philistines. Historically, the philistines only lived in the gaza area and up a few more miles along the shoreline. The Jews have had a presence in Israel from about 1200 BC by the Merneptah Stele, which refers to the victory the egyptians had over the people of Israel (the Tribes of Israel also known as the Israelites). The United Monarchy (also known as the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah) was when all the Tribes of Israel unified under one country. The capital of the United Monarchy was Jerusalem, this occurred around 1050 BC. The United Monarchy was then split into 2 sister states, the Kingdom of Israel (including Samaria as its capital) and the Kingdom of Judah (including Jerusalem as its capital) around 930 BC. During the time of the Kingdoms, many wars were brought upon them. Subsequently, too many wars caused the Kingdoms to collapse and the Kingdoms fell to the babylonians, persians, macedonians, assyrians, etc., but still maintained a Jewish presence. During the roman empire, the land that the Kingdoms were in was then named the Iudaea Province around 63 BC, which included Judah and Samaria. The "west bank" as it is called, is actually Judah and Samaria. The Jews revolted 3 times because of discrimination, religious persecution, desecration and other reasons. On the final revolt, the Bar Kokhba revolt, happening around 132 AD. The romans suppressed the revolt. The roman empire got annoyed with the revolts, so to punish the Jews, the roman empire renamed the Iudaea province to "syria-palaestina" to insult the Jews and disconnect them from their homeland. They renamed the Iudaea province to "syria-palaestina" because the long time enemies of the Jews are the assyrians and the philistines. They then separated "syria-palaestina" into 2 provinces to "palaestina I" and "palaestina II". After the roman empire fell the lands name stayed and "palaestina I and II" combined to become "palaestina". The name stayed "palestine" (translated into English) until the british mandate ended in 1948. So as you can see, "palestine" is a made up land. "palestinians" are actually in Jewish lands. And to really prove its Jewish land, there is scientific proof, that "palestinians" are descendants of Jews and christians. Read this:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/tcgapdf/Nebel-HG-00...

"According to historical records part, or perhaps the majority, of the Moslem Arabs in this country descended from local inhabitants, mainly Christians and Jews, who had converted after the Islamic conquest in the seventh century AD (Shaban 1971; Mc Graw Donner 1981). These local inhabitants, in turn, were descendants of the core population that had lived in the area for several centuries, some even since prehistorical times (Gil 1992). On the other hand, the ancestors of the great majority of present-day Jews lived outside this region for almost two millennia. Thus, our findings are in good agreement with historical evidence and suggest genetic continuity in both populations despite their long separation and the wide geographic dispersal of Jews."

As you can see, the "palestinians" have no claim over the land they say they have been in since the beginning.

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
why do you think that the expulsions started in 1948?
and please don't be so verbose, don't have time for such overlong responses, don't read them.
but who do you suppose the israelis expelled from the villages they occupied?
you are absolutely ridiculous in your insistence that there were no palestinians living in the land called palestine. even israeli historians know this. time for you to give up your silliness.
you cannot admit that you are a brutal selfish people these days. but that;s the fact of the situation.
incredible selfishness, selfcherishing, inability to have compassion for anybody outside your tribe.

And what about ALL of the Jewish explusions out of Israel before 1948?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
why do you think that the expulsions started in 1948?
and please don't be so verbose, don't have time for such overlong responses, don't read them.
but who do you suppose the israelis expelled from the villages they occupied?
you are absolutely ridiculous in your insistence that there were no palestinians living in the land called palestine. even israeli historians know this. time for you to give up your silliness.
you cannot admit that you are a brutal selfish people these days. but that;s the fact of the situation.
incredible selfishness, selfcherishing, inability to have compassion for anybody outside your tribe.

Funny to hear those kind of reactions from Mmericans who get fat on their couches, brobebly have no idea of what it means to fight for your life and actually FEEL that you do something for your country.

Lipush wrote:

<quoted text>
Funny to hear those kind of reactions from Mmericans who get fat on their couches, brobebly have no idea of what it means to fight for your life and actually FEEL that you do something for your country.

just remember dear lipush that it is my taxes that keep israel going, so whether i am fat or not, on a couch or not is absolutely none of your business, in fact to say that to the person who feeds you is a great rudeness. if your parents had brought you up properly you would be sending me thank you letters

I am not jewish or muslim but i would rather be a prisoner of israel than hezbollah! There is not even a question!

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
just remember dear lipush that it is my taxes that keep israel going, so whether i am fat or not, on a couch or not is absolutely none of your business, in fact to say that to the person who feeds you is a great rudeness. if your parents had brought you up properly you would be sending me thank you letters

All countries that do not live under islamo-fascism should be thankful. We as Americans value our freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We live in a country where beheadings, government persecution of religious groups, and honor killings are illegal. We live in a country with freedom of the press and human rights, not like the arab countries which meld religion and government and restrict people's access to information. We should all say thank you to America, even you suzu.

The US does supply Israel with aid. It also supplies Egypt with funds. Both countries are democracies in a region unfriendly to democratic principles. That is the purpose of the aid. Its usefulness is another matter of debate.

Truth wrote:

I am not jewish or muslim but i would rather be a prisoner of israel than hezbollah! There is not even a question!

would you like to be waterboarded by the US? would you like to have been in abu ghraib?
would you like to be a palestinian having your house demolished so that illegal settler can move in?

suzu wrote:

<quoted text>
would you like to be waterboarded by the US? would you like to have been in abu ghraib?
would you like to be a palestinian having your house demolished so that illegal settler can move in?

I don't have a problem with waterboarding terrorists.