I don’t get it. I like living here in Canada, but that’s largely because it’s quite peaceful here. If, however, violence of proportions similar to those in Israel erupted here, I’d try to move to another English-speaking country. I’d claim refugee status if necessary.
The concept of loyalty to one’s homeland mystifies me. What has my homeland done for me that no other nation could do? So what if my friends and family live here? I’d tell them to move, too.
Since you recently admitted to having just recently finished high school this year, I find the logic behind your statement rather puzzling.
Perhaps you should re-read the OP, since much of Israel is not a desert.
There is an attachment to the land that has been passed through generations of Jews from biblical times. In the Jewish view (at least, in the observant Jewish view), Israel was given to the Jews. That is enough of a connection and a draw to get people to live there.
There are other benefits as well. Reasons that I would want to live there. There are commandments that G-d gave us to do; some of these commandments are done only in Israel. I would be able to give my children a good, day school Jewish education for little or no tuition. (By little, I mean much, much less than it costs me here in America.)
I want to be in a country where I never have to worry about leaving early on a Friday afternoon because sunset is early. I want to never have to worry about missing work because it’s a Jewish holiday.
There’s also a major difference between the relationship of a non-Jew (like myself) to a homeland and of a Jew to Israel. My Irish ancestors received persecution when they came to this country, but it was never a state sponsored attempt to destroy them as if they were literally vermin. For 2000 years Jews ran (“maybe that’s why we always wear our hats”) because they didn’t have a home to speak of: you’re ordered out of Israel, go to Egypt; you’re ordered out of Egypt, go to Spain; you’re ordered out of Spain- go to Italy; you’re ordered out of Italy- go to Turkey; you’re ordered out of Turkey- go to Russia; you’re ordered out of Russia- go to Poland; you survive Treblinka- go to Palestine. Israel is there so that Jews can finally stop having to run, and if they did evacuate it then it would just be 2000 more years of having to always wear their hats. I can definitely see why many would prefer to die than to keep packing. (I hope I didn’t offend any Jewish readers with oversimplification.)
On a related but dissimilar note, I once read an essay about what Israel meant to the Jewish psyche written by a psychoanalyst who was a nephew or grandnephew of Sigmund Freud. He survived the concentration camps as a young man (Freud’s wife and children escaped the Nazis, but his octagenarian sisters and most of their families were killed in the camps) and became a freedom fighter in Israel in the late 1940s.
I read this years ago in a journal but I cannot find a citation for it anywhere and I cannot remember his nephew/grandnephew’s name- does anybody know who he was/is or what the title of this article was? (I know his nephew Edward Bernays wrote many books, but he was the father of PR firms in NYC and neither Israeli nor a psychoanalyst.)
Interesting phrasing. Would he consider elsewhere “home”. My guess is that home to him is Israel.
Here in the US we tend to see Israel as a tourist/religious spot. I once talked to an individual who had grown up there who presented a different view: “When somebody says ‘Sea of Galilee you probably think about Jesus’ miracles, I think about the water skiing and the fishing.”
If it was just a matter of me, I would not leave the US, even it was invaded by the French and I was forced to eat nothing but brie three meals a day. 
However, if I had a family to concern myself with, I would place their safety first and foremost, and if that meant moving from the country I loved, so be it. Perhaps when my children were grown, I would return. My love of country is great, but not so great as my love of those near me.
Different strokes for different folks. Speaking for myself, and I know for many Americans, there is a great patriotism and feeling of general pride associated with our country. Kinda like, “We built this from scratch, this is our country, and screw anyone who comes between me and my land.” That aside, speaking again for the US, no other nation is quite like this one. Canada is probably closest, but still, the general attitude is different (to say nothing of laws, which put more of a focus on individualism here in the States). If we were suddenly placed in a state of perpetual war against an aggressor who wanted our nation destroyed, I would remain here as an attempt to preserve the ideals that I feel our nation embodies.
But then again, I’m a fairly patriotic individual. I’m certain that a lot of people would move out in a heartbeat if the US were suddenly a dangerous place to live, particularly the people who don’t think this is such a great place to begin with.
And all of this is from a purely secular viewpoint. If I felt some great religious attachment to my country, I’d be even more resolute in staying, though I still don’t know if I would endanger my family.
Jeff
Assuming you’re not refering to the colonists in the occupied territories, but to people living in Israel proper, and that you’re not refering to people who moved there but to people who were born there :
Placed in a situation like Israel, I think I wouldn’t leave. The situation would have to become much worse before I would consider moving (but then, that’s theorical…Who knows what I would do if actually placed in this position…).
Here’s I’m familiar with the language, with the accents with the local dialects. To the peculiarities, idiosyncrasies, habits and customs. To the way of thinking, to the ways of interacting. To the folklore, to the cultural references, to the jokes. I know the different athmosphere in many towns, the various landscapes in several regions. I know the songs and I like the dishes. I know how to greet the cafe owner, what he’s likely to respond and the difference between a “kir” and a “perroquet” if he asks me which one I prefer. I know what mushrooms are to be collected and what the proper colour of a cow is. I know when and why this castle on the hilltop was build, and the name of the stone used to cover the roof. When I come back to the village I was brought up in, and walk along some path, I know my grand father, and his own grand father before him used to walk there too, and used to look at the same scenery.
No other nation could offer the same things to me…
That’s the same attitude a lot of Israelis have, except for them, it’s closer in time…you know, “100 years ago, this place was nothing, and then we came and built a country. 50 years ago, we fought and won our freedom from people who wanted to destroy us. This is our country, built from our blood and sweat, and we’re not leaving.”
Of course said, give the Palestinians a state for G_d’s sake.
Maybe Israel is home to him now, but he grew up here in Southern California and didn’t live in Jerusalem until he was 26. His Father owns an Import store and my friend, being the oldest son, was next in line to run it. He met his wife there and has said several times he wants to come back to the US with her and their child. I think it has alot to do with his Father and keeping the store in the family.