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What's stopping the "dispossessed" from building their lives where they are today? Their fellow Arabs, that's what.

"Between 1947 and 1949, some 750,000 Palestinians were expelled as Israel declared its independence, and in June 1967 some 300,000 more Palestinians fled or were driven into exile as Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza. Hundreds of villages were systematically razed and erased from the map. In the course of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza after June 1967, over 1,000 Palestinians - including women and children - were deported without charges or trial. Fully 50 percent of the land and 80 percent of the precious water reserves were confiscated by the Israeli government. And as deported Palestinians languished in exile, some 100,000 Jews settled in the West Bank and Gaza. All these measures - and many more routinely taken by Israel in the occupied territories - were, as one Israeli periodical euphemistically put it, 'very far from the norms of international law'" (Hotam,4 August 1989). (Norman G. Finkelstein, The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A Personal Account of the Intifada Years, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis and London, 1996, p. 52)

No it sounds like its Israel stopping them from building their lives.

Norman G. Finkelstein, The Rise and Fall of Palestine

Why is it that the anti-Israel crowd is constantly quoting left wing sources such as Norman Finkelstein?

And, by the way, how many minutes do you think Taiwan would continue to exist without the billions of dollars the US spends to defend it?

and in June 1967 some 300,000 more Palestinians fled or were driven into exile as Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza. Hundreds of villages were systematically razed and erased from the map. In the course of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza after June 1967,

The 'Palestinians' were hostile toward Israel and Israel had just won a war. To the victor go the spoils.

If the Palestinians didn't want to lose their land, they shouldn't have let Jordan place troops on both sides of the Jordan. They chose sides and their side lost. Tough sh!t.

over 1,000 Palestinians - including women and children - were deported without charges or trial.

They were non-citizens in [newly won] Israeli territory. They have no right to be there, much less ask for a trial before being deported.

-bc

Lets get some facts on the table. The number of Arabs dispossessed when Israel was established was 550,000, the difference between the number there in the last British census and the first Israeli census after the war. In the same period, about 800,000 Jews departed the Arab countries.

The Arabs refused to resettle their refugees, while the Jews did so immediately.

Fifty three years after leaving the new Israel, It's pretty hard to consider these people refugees.

That is like saying, "In June 1944, the US Army invaded France and killed thousands of people."

The statement is true, but it is totally lacking in context. The Arabs who fled did so because they were defeated in wars that THEY started. You neglect to mention that fact.