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There is much debate internally in Israel on whether settlements should be continued. Some believe that settlements are a hinderance to the peace process. Some would say that the settlements are illegal. I do not hold that view since the Mandate has never been repealed and UN Resolution 242 leaves the final disposition of the land to Israel... and not to anyone else... Not to the Arabs, not to the Americans, and certainly not to the Palestinians.

The only thing you forgot to mention in your Summation (which amounts to the Jews had better lawyers, in your opinion) was that the most important reason the Israelis can do whatever they want to in this conflict, is that the bible decreed that the Israelites should inhabit this land forever no matter what! In that interpretation, the Jews can lie, cheat, and steal, because the land is theirs and you can't steal something that is decreed as yours.

I'm sure there will be some members of that sect of the tribe arriving shortly to set us straight on that aspect.

I can detect that yours is a purely principled position and not an emotional position. Quite refreshing, I might add.

Who had the better lawyers? It is quite cynical for you to sum up my views in that way... Since I feel that the Jews have been in forced to retreat from the land promised them by international law. And are still being required to retreat.... by world opinion and people who do not have a clue to the history and legitimacy of Jewish right to the land.

The motivating force during the Mandate time was the Arab street and Arab nationalism summed up in the Mufti's intifadahs of the 1920s and 1930s. Great Britain caved in time and time again to it.

That is why you have the White Paper of 1922. It, in effect, gives the Palestinians a home. Transjordan. Now, I'm not naive enough to think that the British did that out of the goodness of their heart. No, they did it to control the region through the Heshemite king.

The White Paper of 1939, which effectively reversed the mandate by impeding Jewish immigration at the time of Nazi persecution answered one thing... Arab displeasure at the strength of the Jews in the land. The White Paper of 1939 placed strict quotas on Jewish immigration for 5 years. When that time limit expired, it would be left to the Arabs to decide whether Jewish immigration could continue.

So, the Jews, who were promised a homeland... with Arab approval... (King Faisal, speaking for all Arabs in 1919 signed on to the Balfour Declaration)... were systematically hosed by Great Britain and the world in the face of Arab pressure. They lost more than 75% of the land when Transjordan was formed. They lost another 50% (approximately) with the UN Partition Plan of 1947.

Now, the Arabs rejected the UN Partition Plan of 1947 and launched a genocidal war against Israel. Which was repeated in 1956, 1967, 1973... and two intifadahs... one in the late 1980's and one that began in 2000.

The settlements are not illegal. That is a fact. Israel purposely kept settlements out of the Oslo Accords because by law they have the right to build there. They have the right, given to them by the League of Nations in 1922 (San Remo) to settle on the Mandated land... all of if, then it was slowly taken away from them.

Where are the Jews stealing, lying, and cheating? Where? Because the Palestinians say they are? Absurd! The truth of the matter (and that is what counts) is Israel has the right to the land by law. They have the right to settle. And the West is terribly afraid of the Arabs and have consistently made the Jews give up what is theirs.

In 1939, when the Jews pressed the British government to throw open the immigration flood gates so that the Jews could escape from Nazi Germany... the British declined. Their reason: "They are just Jews..." That account comes from Conor Cruise O'Brien's book The Siege. I believe that... because I have seen it in principle since I have been old enough to understand politics.