Israel and Civilian Kills

The Palestinian refugee crisis is unique, that’s why the UN (whose definition of Refugee you seem to be adopting) created a special agency to deal specifically with Palestinian refugees.

I believe that is correct. If in the year 2100, people who used to live in Palestine (or their descendants) are still sitting in refugee camps because of the war of 1948, they would still be refugees of that war. If they assimilate or emigrate somewhere else and start a new life then they are no longer refugees but until someone steps up and takes them in (as the arab league seems to be contemplating at the moment), they are refugees. They are refugees from what is now Israel and it doesn’t matter whether you think they were ever citizens of Israel, that is where they came from.

My point was that land ownership isn’t really that relevant. If I had a 1 year lease on my home in the United States and because of war I fled to Canada and sat in a refugee camp, I would be a refugee from America regardless of my citizenship or whether my lease had expired.

Hrmm, well, OK if they can exercise sovereign police powers I think it is reasonable to burden them with at least some responsibility. But aren’t you worried that the Palestinians will use their newfound police powers to launch attacks on Israel?

Well, I don’t know that they have to get immediate citizenship and I certainly don’t think everyone is entitled to land but they do get to live in Israel if they want, you don’t get to wait until the refugees die and then claim there are no more refugees when all the descendants of those initial refugees are still sitting in refugee camps.

You cited it? Can you provide a link? The same UN that has a special agency for Palestinian refugees, the same UN that has a special definition for Palestinian refugees, the same UN that supports the right of return?

Riiiight so when the Brits issued the 1937 white papers the Zionists got all upset because…

Have you actually read the Balfour declaration because you seem to be reading several passages into it that don’t exist and reading out some words that are actually there.

How did the Jewish population expand so rapidly in Palestine if British support was in words only? Did they have to get their army to drive out the Palestinians to make room for Jews before you think they actually did something real?

I’m looking at the Jewish population charts during the period between 1917 and 1947 and either the majority of Jews in palestine were illegal immigrants or there was in fact significant jewish immigration and you are simply mischaracterizing the facts. I wonder which it is?

You are holding the Brits to YOUR interpretation of THEIR words.

Well ignorant and disingenuous at the very least. That seems to be your fallback position.

/sigh. Once again, I don’t think land ownership really matters when trying to resolve the refugee issue (it might matter in terms of reparations but thats a separate matter). But if you are going to hang your hat on land ownership please provide a cite that Palestinians did not own land.

So? Fee simple is not the only form of land ownership. Even Fee simple is subject to condemnation, property rights are not nearly as cut and dried as you think they are. Even in the US where property rights are fairly well defined, things can get very very sticky. I still think this is a BS line of argument but it is especially BS because it is based on such a contrived distinction.

In the context of my post wtf difference does that make? My point was that Israel was (at least in part) created by the UN when almost every nation in the world approved the plan.

I have no skin in this game, I am about as objective third party as it gets. Can you say the same? Why would I try to evangelize anyone? I have no reason to approach this issue with a specific result in mind, do you?

WTF are you getting at? I never claimed that the BD was an attempt to limit Jewish immigration, why the heck would I ever say that?

In your bizarro world, sure, I guess so.

WTF!?!? MOST OF PALESTINE WAS ARAB not most of the jewish part of the partition. You read stuff into what I say a lot. I don’t know if its straw man or psychosis. If you see something that might be contradictory to something I said before then try to read it in a way that makes it not contradictory rather than looking for ways to pick apart the words I use to look for typos and loose language.

Words have meaning, they have significance.