Here are few posts that might explain some of the dilemma" #msg-805906, #msg-665546, #msg-665546 and #msg-805871. That should give you an inkling, though one sided, of what is happening in the Mid East. It is a tragedy that the world refused for political reaons to solve. There were in essence two groups of about 700,000 each of refugees created after the UN resolution 181 decided on the partition of the Palestine mandate. Israel followed 181 to the letter only to be attacked by superior forces from seven Arab nations (some not even neighbors like Saudi Arabia and Iraq). The 700,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands (I am not talking about Europe's Jewish refugees), were taken in by Israel and integrated into the society, members of that group are now fully integrated in Israeli society, all started in refugee camps (I spent two months in such a refugee camp). The big difference, Israel took care of its refugees, but the Arab nations from which the 700,000 Jews were expelled did not, instead, purely for political reasons, they kept them segregated from the rest of the population in refugees camps, refused them and their newly born descendents citizenship in the host countries (except Jordan who granted Jordanian citizenship to "Palestinians" as part of their annexation of the West bank). Vet early in the conflict, the nascent state was supported by the Eastern block, while the West was hoping the "problem ill go away in face of the impossible odds facing the Israeli. The Eastern block had its own agenda, Stalin, thought that because the backbone of Israeli society and armed forces came from "communist Kibbutzes", he'll be able to turn Israel to a thorn in the side of the "reactionary" Arab regimes and that Israel will align itself with the Eastern block. By 1950/52 it became clear that Israel labor (almost leftist) government wants no part with communism, and the Soviets shifted gear, supporting revolutions first in Egypt, then Syria then Iraq, and started arming those to the teeth. By 1956, Nasser "nationalized" the Suez canal, and Israel was thrown into the European camp of France/UK, all the while, Arab refugees were still being used as pawns to saw instability in the region. In 1967, Nasser felt emboldened enough and "guaranteed" Soviet support to mount a unified Arab attack against Israel again, he even managed to get Hussein to join him. Israel was attacked on the Golan heights, on its long border in the West bank and of course on the Sinai front. Israel not only survived, but was victorious. In the 1973 another attempt failed which persuaded Egypt first (and mostly due to that Sharon "butcher", who refused to butcher the Egyptian third Army and refused to take Cairo which was laid open, and by those "failures" persuaded Saadat, that Israeli really do not want to kill every Arab they see, nor do they want to humiliate them), and Jordan second, Egypt received back every iota of the pre 181 land they had, including the evacuation of new Israeli settlements. That was done by none other than the "Terrorist" of 1948 Menachem Begin. Jordan followed soon thereafter and got back its pre 181 lands. The 700,000 refugees became a much greater number and now they want a state of their own, a minority of these want a state "from the river to the sea", namely asking Israel to commit suicide. Barak offered a Palestinian state some two years ago, and the response was a wave of murders of innocent Israeli civilians, and Palestinians during retaliation raids after the militants. Unfortunately, the majority of Palestinians is not enforcing its will on that minority, and the longer the conflict runs, the more support that minority (for now) is gaining. That is where we are now. Israel in 1948 had a similar problem with a minority of Israeli factions that wanted an Israel on both sides of the Jordan, ben Gurion told them disarm or end up in jail, after two three small skirmishes, both sides realized that a civil war is futile and the "terrorist" factions (including Menachem Begin) decided to exercise their ballot power instead of their muscle power. Arafat should follow Ben Gurion.
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