The letter Palestine factor in terrorism's rise certainly made for an amusing read. Fair Muslim brings up the issue of Palestine land being taken away by the Jews. Please remember that the Jews have 3,200 years of history.

Always remember that the Middle East was preceded by the Byzantine Empire and that was very long before Islam came into being. How conveniently we forget or choose to forget. You see Malaysian history books never mention the Byzantine empire.

Under the Balfour Declaration, Emir Faisal, son of Sherif Hussein, the leader of the Arab revolt against the Turks, signed an agreement with Chaim Weizman and other Zionist leaders during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

'Mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people,' it said, '... and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their national aspirations through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab states and Palestine.'

Critics dismiss the Weizmann-Faisal agreement because it was never enacted; however, the fact that the leader of the Arab nationalist movement and the Zionist movement could reach an understanding is significant because it demonstrated that Jewish and Arab aspirations were not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Which begs the question - if the people one mistakenly calls Palestinians are anything but generic Arabs, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War?

I also hope one would avoid the temptation to trace the modern-day 'Palestinians' to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work.

There is also the question of the Kurds who are Muslims. More Kurds have been killed throughout the ages than Palestinians, they have a distinguished history from the time of Saladin the Great. But why is it the Muslim countries have ignored their plight? Is it because they are not Arabs?

Look at the tragedy of Lebanon, where the president of Lebanon a Christian is assassinated with Syrian complicity, the PLO played an important role in destabilising the country. Between 1948 and 1968, Lebanon gave the Palestinian refugees shelter, food, jobs and protection.

The refugees lived protected by the Lebanese laws as if they were Lebanese, and were treated like guests with compassion and respect. Furthermore, Lebanese scholars, businessmen, workers and youth in and outside the country espoused their cause and internationally defended their rights.

But the PLO never respected Lebanese laws, nor abided by the agreements they concluded with the Lebanese government, namely the Cairo, Melkart and Chtaura Agreements. In fact, they have been responsible in large measure for the political, military, social and economic destruction of Lebanon.