I don't know of any Jewish extremist laying "claim" to "god's promise to Abraham. In 1917, the leader of the then Arab nation (Prince faisal) signed an agreement with Dr. Weitzman, for a "piece of land" more or less congruent to the David Kingdom. later, the British mandate signed the Balfour declaration confirming the Faisal/Weiztman Agreement. The most extremist Jewish movements (Irgun and Lehi in the 40' and few religious fringe sects today) maintained that the "Faisal/Weitzman agreement should be honored, though Churchill, when drawing the Mid east map anew in 1921, gave Transjordan as a prize the a portion of Abdullah of the Hashemite House (from Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and other chunks in Syria and Iraq to Abdullah's brothers). In 1947, the Jewish population in Israel accepted resolution 181 (through a majority vote of their representatives), also known as the "Partition resolution", which divided the the land east of the Jordan between Arabs and Jews. Seven Arab nations (including the Arab Palestinians, invaded the nascent country which had no chance of survival. They were defeated in the "Great Nakba", and the incongruent north and southern parts of the UN granted land was unified as a result of the Nakba. After few more attempts by the Arab neighbors to "throw the Jews into the Mediteranean", through first constant terror, then trough economic warfare (closing of the Suez canal to Israeli shipping), Israel ended up with the whole Sinai. Under the nuclear blackmail of Bulganin, Israel returned the Sinai and Gaza to Egypt, for the promise of demilitarization of these lands and positioning UN peace keeping forces. In 1967, Abdul Gamal Nasser, unilaterally closed Sharam El Sheick straits with shore gun batteries and forced the UN to evacuate the demilitarized zone and poured in divisions upon divisions into the Sinai. Pacts were signed with Syria and Jordan for a common assault on Israel. Israel through international channels urged Hussein to stay out of the coming fight, but Hussein erred or was coerced by Syria and Egypt and when hostilities started, he lost the West Bank (which his father annexed to Transjordan and then renamed the country "Jordan"), even though the Arab Legion (Jordan's army) fought valiantly at a number of positions near Jerusalem (there is a place called the Ammunition Hill, where the Arab Legion fought so heroically, that for quite some time, the Israeli paratroopers that opposed them, would go there yearly to pay tribute to the fallen Jordanian soldiers, I think this is no longer practiced, I hope one day that honor will be renewed).
In 1973, once more a major coordinated offensive by Syria and Egypt (this time without the pre war saber rattling) was mounted on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. While the IDF had some indications such an attack would be mounted, Golda Meir decided not to act preemptively, and at one point, the defense minister, Moshe Dyan, was not sure if the attack could be repelled. Yet after few days of mobilization of the reserves, and the loss of few initial battles, the Israeli finally took the upper hand and if they wanted, could have marched all the way to Cairo and Damascus, since there were no opposing forces between these cities and the forward Israeli forces (the Egyptian third army was encircled on the west side of the canal, while Sharon 's divisions were on the east side free to drive to Cairo.
The next stage was a peace agreement with Egypt, the Egyptian wanted no part of Gaza. The following was a peace agreement with Jordan, and they did not want any part of the west bank, these two agreements actually fully fulfil resolution 242 of the UN stating "land for peace (not "all the land"). Now, it so happens that there are millions of Arab living in Gaza and the west bank. Barak offered them a future state, providing that that state reigns in its extremists, just as the Israeli are reigning in theirs. Not acceptable to Arafat, since the charter of the PLO and Hammas still call for a Palestinian state from the "River to the sea", and thus he launches "Intifada II" and bring utter misery on the Palestinian. Before the Intifada II, Arabs on the west bank had an average standard of leaving unequal in the region (except Arab Israeli within Israel). Today, more than 50% are under the poverty line. The more they wait, the less they get, that is an historical process taking place now, it may not be "right", but it is a fact and the price paid for bad leadership. I think that unless the Palestinians accept the right of a secure (secure from terror) Israel, they don't get any state. Why should Israel help the formation of a terrorist state just next door?
Hopefully, more rational heads (just as in Israel of 1948, when the then prime minister, David Ben Gurion had to handle Jewish extremism and he gave Irgun and Lehi an ultimatum, disarm or go to prison) will prevail on the Palestinian side and they can resume their march to national actualization.
Zeev
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