Much has been bantered about how Israel "stole" the land from the Palestinians, and they should return it. Is this really true? Who controlled Palestine prior to the Jewish State being mandated by the United Nations in 1948? Who controlled most of that land before Britain? How many times have lands in the "Middle East" been fought over and conquered by fighting "Arab" tribes and other nationalities like the Medo-Persians, the Turks, the Babylonians, and before that? When did Abraham and Joshua "conquer" the land from the Philistines, the Moabites, the Jebusites, and other tribes? What did Israel look like in the time of King David? Who occupied "Palestine" in 1948? Who objected to the State of Israel's formation? Who has continued to reject the State of Israel's right to exist? What was Jordan at the time of the 1948 UN Armistice? The truth is that both “Jewish Palestinians” and “Arab Palestinians” occupied “Israel” in 1948. It is not the “Palestinians” land so to speak unless you include both Jews and Arabs. The continuing aggitation and conflicts, since the formation of Israel, have been from surrounding Arab states. I have friends that live and work in Jerusalem, and the Jews and original "Arab Palestinians" actually live very peacefully with one another, and Israel made those folks Jewish citizens with all the rights and privileges of any Israeli citizen (more than most Arab states give their own populations - especially women).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090119145306AA...