Truly Malaysian makes some valid historical points in his/her letter Israel the whole world sits and watches even though I am not sure what the writer's overall point was.
Yet whether or not Muslims controlled the area longer than Jews hundreds or thousands of years in the past is not really the point. The Jews and Arab Israelis now occupy a part and so do the Arab Palestinians. The point is to get both sides to settle in the part they control and let the others settle securely in theirs with mutually accepted borders.
By saying that Ottoman law allowed Jews to purchase land implies that the Jews broke no laws when initially settling in that land in the late 19th century and thus those lands were purchased legally. The Jews who settled on those legally obtained lands then set up communities and infrastructure that permitted more people, Jews and Arabs, to come in and settle in those areas as well. Many Arabs did not live in those areas until that time and had instead immigrated from what is now Syria and Jordan. Many Jewish families have thus lived there as long or longer than many Arab families.
The idea that all the Arabs, who were displaced by the numerous conflicts there, were indigenous and had lived there for centuries is a myth and part of the anti-Israel propaganda machine. Even the unique definition of a Palestinian refugee reflects this by stating that a Palestinian refugee is one who had lived in the area for less than two years prior to the 1948 war.
The writer's declaration of the 1967 'expansion plans' is disingenuous. Did the Israelis somehow orchestrate the Arab initiated war that resulted in the territorial expansion? How can people continue to blame Israel for every event that has happened yet leave the Arabs blameless? Where are the writer's complaints about the Jordanian and Egyptian occupation of those same territories prior to that or the constant Syrian shelling of Israel villages from the Golan? How can the writer ignore the purpose of that war which was to obliterate Israel and conduct genocide on its people?
How can the writer ignore the fact that most of the lands gained in the 1967 and 1973 wars were returned in exchange for peace? And finally how can the writer ignore that the Palestinians have been used as pawns by their Arab-Muslim brethren and even in this current conflict continue to be used as an excuse to wage war on Israel. The Arabs have initiated and lost numerous wars against Israel yet continue to call for the unconditional surrender of the Jewish state. You can't continue to wage aggressive war and lose and expect no consequences of doing so.
All this brings me to my point. The writer declares that 'At the end of the day, it does not matter who is right or wrong but it is about doing the right thing'. If this is the case, then the writer should direct his/her comments to Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran and the dozens of other Arab-Muslim parties who's sole desire is the destruction of Israel and the death of its people regardless of the harm that befalls the true victim, the Palestinian non-combatant.
Once those parties accept the existence of Israel and are willing to sit at the table of peace with them I am absolutely positive that they will find the Israeli people (who are also tired of conflict) to be a willing partner for peace. It is certainly better than advocating for the status quo which can only end with one side wiping out the other and leaving the whole region uninhabitable for anyone, victor or vanquished.
