"Why should the occupation of Lebanon by Syrian Moslems and Alawites cause Arab Christians to hate Jews?"
It doesn't. It was the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and occupation of the Arabs of Palestine that has engendered this hatred. As far as the Syrian Alawites/Muslims: it seems the Christian leadership of Lebanon view the Syrians as their allies-- and views the Jews of Israel as their enemies.
"Why should the occupation of Jordan -- which was formed to be the "palestinian homeland" -- by Arabian Hashemites cause anyone to hate Jews?"
What right did the UN have to "create" a Palestinian homeland? Or decide that the people who lived in historic Palestine(Christian and Muslim) were to give up half their land to foreigners. As far as the Hashemites-- they're Arabs who have deep roots in the Hijaz and Northern Arabia, and many Arabs only wish they could be ruled by the Jordanian Hashemites.
"Oh, there's a succinct way of saying "the Jews were murdered and driven out."
Many Jews were murdered and driven out, but not by the Christian of Palestine, and not even by the Muslims who conquered the area around 640AD. The first wave of Jewish departure began in the Roman period. The second wave occurred around the time of the Crusades, when Arab Christians, Muslims, and Jews were slaughtered by European Christians who couldn't tell them apart. The Jews, quite intelligently, decided to move. Many went to Iran,Iraq and Arab North Africa and Spain. Back then, the Muslim empires weren't destructive totalitarian Wahabbis, and the Jews were at the very least tolerated. That was not possible in medieval European Christendom, or sadly, today's Islamic world.
"What is now Israel was largely depopulated by the 19th Century, and it was the Turks who began selling land to the Jews in the latter part of that Century." The first part of what you state here is unfortunately factually incorrect, the latter part is true. The Turks did sell some land to Jews, as did the Brits and some Arabs during the mandate period. But where you're off dramatically is the idea that the Palestinians are merely the descendants of a handful of nomadic bedouins. The Palestinians (Muslim and Christian) were overwhelmly a settled city people living off the often lucrative business of religious pilgrimage. They were also farmers whose fathers had tilled that land for a millenium. To this day, there are Palestinin families whose olive groves are still nurtured with the same tender care as they were a thousand years ago. Except, of course, when the Israelis burn them.
In 1920, the demographic balance between Arabs (Christian and Muslim) and Jews in Palestine was at least 4-1. At least a million people lived there. The demographic balance shifted a little due to massive Jewish emigration to the Holy Land, and then through the forced expulsion of the Arabs in 1948. (By the way, even the Israelis now admit that Israel could not have survived without the forcible removal of the Arabs)
As far as chosen peoples go, God chooses different peoples to carry his word at different times. Once he chose the Jews, but the Jews rejected Jesus.
But we digress... this thread is about Jesus. Did you like the movie? I saw it with my Muslim relatives and my Catholic in-laws. Gibson was true to the Injeel (the Good News). Most movies about Christ are so sanitized they fail to inspire. This one was powerful. Mostly historically accurate. And the fluent Arabic speakers amongst my relatives loved the Aramaic as they picked up words and word roots here and there.
Regards
