Come on, Noor, you are smarter than that! 1 - In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the United States refused to send needed spare parts to Israel. It was not until Israel (a) surrounded the Egyptian Third Army (it might have been Fifth; I don't entirely recall) and (b) crossed the Suez Canal and stood ready to march on Cairo that the United States came up with spare parts. The U.S. did not Israel to take a major Arab capital and Israel could have taken Cairo, and could have taken Damascus. But Israel learned a very valuable lesson, which is "trust no one." Since 1973, weapons research and development has given Israel a truly fearsome arsenal. As to financial support, I believe there are now ten countries whose aid package exceeds Israel's and that list includes the Palestine Authority and Egypt. Israel gets very little in cash aid and is one of only two countries that pays its debt (these are loans, not gifts), the other country being Finland. The bulk of aid to Israel takes the form of military credits which MUST be spent in the United States. The balance of the aid to Israel is in the form of joint venture capital investment, which has produced great benefit to Israel as well as the United States, e,g., CAT scan, MRI technology, facial recognition software, and a whole host of exceptionally advanced software. The Weitzman Institute, working closely with American research institutes, has developed four or five chemotherapy protocols that have saved a great many lives. 2 - Yes. Agreed, completely. But United Nations General Assembly resolutions are really only recommendations and only Security Council resolutions drafted under Chapter VII of the United Nations charter are binding and enforceable. Resolution 242 was drafted under Chapter VI of the UN charter and is therefore non-binding and unenforceable. (Don't quote Resolution 141 to me -- the Resolution created two states in Mandatory Palestine, one small Jewish one and one much larger Palestinian won. Mandatory Palestine had no legal status once the British withdrew on May 14, 1948. Resolution 141 conferred status -- creating, it was hoped, two countries. However, the Arabs rejected partition and went to war instead. Israel won. Same thing again in 1967; the West Bank had no legal status -- and the First and Second Hague Conventions are quite clear that non-sovereign territory acquired in a defensive war may legally be retained and settled -- thus effectively bringing Judea and Samaria under Israeli control. Noor, as to the rest -- what I glean from your post is that you have falled victim to a tragic Palestinian malady, viz., if you repeat a lie often enough, you start to believe it is true. The United States, the European Union, Russia and France have indicated that they will not support a declaration of statehood by the Palestine Authority. Whatever lip service the heads of state of these countries may put out publicly, the truth of the matter is, given the inherent instability and fractious nature of the competing Palestinian organizations, no one really wants the Palestinians to have their own state. Really they don't. So, while I really do not think that international opinion matters, even if it did, the Palestians were on the receiving end of a pretty humiliating smackdown. The Palestinians do not have as many friends and supporters as they think they do, and much of the support comes from Islamic and Arab countries. That's a lot of quantity, not all that much quality. In any event, here is a treatise which you may find interesting and which is authored by the pre-eminent scholar on the application of international law in disputed regions: http://www.globalpolitician.com/24388-israel-jerusalem All Jews have their roots in Israel. For you to suggest otherwise makes you look rather foolish. The rest of your points are inapposite and inaccurate. I've lectured enough for today.

Palestine wiped itself off the map by rejecting a two-state solution on no less than three separate occasions. There won't be fourth. The Palestinians are, if nothing else, certainly their own worst enemy. Six lost wars and you don't think you are a vanquished people? Hmm, interesting. Sigh. Haven't seen all that much out of Hizbollah in Lebanon. Another Arab myth is that 2006 was a victory. It wasn't. Israel cleaned Hizbollah's clock, Hizbollah's rhetoric notwithstanding. Funny how history repeats itself. During the Six-Day War, Nasser would broadcast triumphant speeches -- "Oh, my Arab brethren; our glorious air force is as we speak bringing Israel to its knees! Our armies are marching on Tel Aviv ....." et cetera, et cetera ad nauseum. Same with Hizbollah -- much sizzle, no steak. There are two nuclear clubs, Noor. The first would include those countries that have developed atomic weapons. The second much, much smaller club includes countries which have developed atomic weapons AND the capacity to deliver them (the much harder part, actually). Guess which club Israel belongs to. That makes us a world power. It is not the quantity of soldiers in the fight, dear, it is the quality of fight in the soldier. The Arabs just aren't all that good. (Sorry.) Yes, we know that Hamas has not stopped smuggling. We also know that most shipments of weapons earmarked for Hamas and Hizbollah have met with a rather bad run of luck of late -- convoy in the Sudan gets blown up; ships get seized; ships get torpedoed. Do you really think that the United States and Israel are not aware of these shipments? The United States has satellite capacity that can pick out the brand name of a pack of cigarettes sitting on a picnic table. Which they share with Israel, because they depend on Israel to preserve their interests in the Eastern Mediterranean and the South to North shipping lanes approaching the Canal. Honey, let me explain one thing to you. It would be a mistake for you to get caught up in rhetoric coming out of Tehran or from Hamas or Hizbollah. You are setting yourself up for a fall. The fact of the matter is that were Israel to mobilize at full strength, or to avail itself of all the weapons in its arsenal, there will be nothing left of Hamas and nothing left of Hizbollah. Really. The rest of your post is ludicrous and not worth a reply. Sorry.

"If they were a vanquished people, as you say, their lives would have reflected that of the Native Americans and they would have become a museum piece." === Sweetie, if we were like you there wouldn't be enough left of you and your pals to put in a museum, so stick a cork in your kassam already. Truth is, if we fought by your "rules" you'd be long extinct and forgotten. Admittedly, the long term strategic merits of our benevolence is arguable - but MAKE NO MISTAKE, Jewish rachamim is the ONLY reason you and your fellow egyptian and jordanian squatters are even alive to falsely claim Jewish land and type lies on an Israeli website. Honestly, if your projectionist, orwellian bizarro-truths are actually convincing anybody, I'd rather they be in your corner anyway.

You're such a Leftist dumbass. White Phosphorous is NOT illegal nor was it used illegally by Israel. You can't even make an honest claim anymore to gain points. Goldstone upheld the legal use of White Phosphorous and Israel's use of it within legal dictates; and he is NO friend of Israel. "95% of Pal resistance has been non-violent" - are they somehow protesting in their homes in silence? Because every time a "palestinian" comes out to "protest", molotov cocktails, rocks, and sniper bullets come flying. Suicide bombings, rockets, and RPGs....unless this is considered the Arab equivalent of "peaceful protest". Finally - "Israel couldn't survive without the US". Really? They didn't start funding Israel until the Soviets began funding the Arabs pre-1967. We did just fine. US money is for military use ONLY and ONLY spent in the US. Let's try this - stop money to Israel AND the "palestinians" together and see who survives. My guess is Israel with it's super high-tech industry, advanced agriculture, beauty products, and medical technology. It could have been the "Pals" also but you know, raw metal from greenhouses sold as scrap is as far as they can extrapolate business-wise. No one cares where Israeli immigrants come from these days because we're a 61 year old State who has its own immigration policies. My guess - the douche bags from Saudi Arabia which immigrate to the US don't have North American roots but are still welcome. So blow it out....

Sounds more like you're pissed off and frustrated that the "palestinians" are losing everything due to their intransigence and Israel is moving ahead with nary an Arab army on its borders. It just kills you to see Israel snub its nose to people 10,000 miles away with a stance based on local public opinion with no regard to history or facts on the ground. Your's is not a convincing post that makes me believe the "palestinians are winning the game". Infact, it makes me believe that you cursed and spit on your computer screen at this article, then ate a whole bucket of ice cream while you cried in pain. Glad you're on the side of the "pals", you're in good company.

Bravo Sarah; 2 more brilliant posts of yours....will surely put Noor in her place.

Your posts show how very little knowledge you have of Israel, unlike Sarah B who has a vast knowledge. Noor is just a mouthpiece for hatred.

Israel is the rebirth, the resuscitation of the Jewish nation in the land where Jews had their own kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital, in ancient times. Jews are indigenous to the land. Arabs came to the area hundreds of years later. Both peoples have long histories there. If the Arab extremists would finally turn away from their supremacist views which include rejecting peace and coexistence with a Jewish nation, there could be a bright future for the children of both sides. As for Judea and Samaria, Israel should continue its military control over the areas in order to ensure its national security. It should also apply its law to the areas of Judea and Samaria that are within the domestic consensus. But, of course, the rights of the Jewish people to the land has also modern International Legitimacy as explained at : http://xrl.us/beja68

Thank you very much, Birdi, for your kind words. I think you meant 31 and 32, at least I hope you did! Shabbat Shalom Sarah

Yes Sarah I did mean # 31 & 32. Pardon me for my mistake & thanks for your correction.