of horse manure... The mistakenly called "Palestinian" arabs have been getting their reward for being murderers and Jew haters... The only thibg this author bemoans is that their hatred and stupidity is on display for all to see!

You say there is no evidence there was a Temple on the Mount (ignoring what evidence there is). Now that you've destroyed these synagogues to prevent "any thought of returning" by Jews, how can you question how 2000 years later little trace is left of what we built on the Temple Mount, when it's clear that when the hate is hot enough, people are cable of obliterating completely these traces? Your morals are a moving target.

what we saw was a re-distribution of the IDF army from Gaza ... they are still in the west bank,Golan heights and most importantly jerusalem .. they are still controlling the entry and exit points ,the water and the space over gaza .. occupation still exist and nothing have changed AT ALL . i hope the israelis are realizing that .. for the synagogues ..israel destroyed 400 villages in 1948 ...weare talking about whole village ..so give me a break .

I think Ray's point is not that the Israelis agreed to destroy the homes at the request ofthe Palestinans, but that the settlers protested and spoke out pubcally against giving the homes to the Muslims. Ray's editorial offers both sides, and clearly both sides like to pretend they have done no wrong. The more you protest, the clearer this message has become. It's sad to read this much anger so late in the evening. Avram

Well, Ray's is not reporting, nor it is unbiased. Let me tell you what I'vew just heard from people who've driven from Gaza to Rafah, and carried one of the six Palestinians who've drowned in the sea they've not visited for decated: 1. the israeli high court has allowed the destructions of the structures which until recently were worship houses. Stuff, including holy books were removed as well as lights, etc. from there. nothing wass left in these buildings was left including windoes etc. as settlers expected these to be demolishged by the israeli army before withdrawal. Well, Haim Ramon said yesterday these were no longer worship houses, as the IDF cheif rabbi has already removed this disignation from the buildings. what was left of these is just cement and stone. these were no longer sacred, and the government of israel should destroyed them. 2. PA was furious as the sharon govt. did not do just that. instead, sharon did not want to upset right wing supporters, and he knew this will be used against his likud party in any futuree elections. instead, he decided that Palestinians better do the job which eh certainly knew was going to happen. 3. palestinians did notonly destroy these buildings, but also theborder to Egypt. has the border any Jewish nature? No. It is another symbol of israeli occupation which the palestinians were quick to destroy, another symbol of ending israel's rule/occupation/repression etc. 4. looting: friends in gaza, seculars, christians, etc. exchanged SMSs etc. on the first trip from Jabalia to Rafah by car, etc. and were not worried about the pieces of tiles etc. the settlers left. however, friends also reported there were poor, really poor people who went to settlements not to experience freedom, but to see if they could get something enough to buy their kids food etc. few kilos of aluminium of what remains of smashed windows, etc. (imagine?). SOme got wood for their stone-age! stoves! Not to BBQ but to cook. There are people here who still use wood tocook! Yes. People reported settlers removed even green grass, and sold it weeks ago. Trees were cut, and houses were already destroyed. why would the world cry if poor people use the 'leftover'? wood used to heat poor families thiscoming winter? This ain't bad. in other countries it would have been cold 'environment - friendlypractice'! 5. crossing the egypt-gaza border: was this an anti-semetic act, terrorism, or families living in the two 'parts' of Rafah, separated by the border uniting after decades? We should be careful, people, and not rush to judgement. I was about to make the same mistakes Ray and others have made, but caled few friends and got a different pitcire. One of the guy I talked to told me about the kid he transported from around Khan Younis to a hospital, after having experienced his first (and only) bath in the Gaza sea, which he could not, since he was born, go to. Poor guy. this was not a terrirost, or showed any hatred of Jews when he did so. Freedom which Gazans (mostly born after the 1967 occupation) issomething new. It would take few weeks before things calm. I actually suggested that the PA arrange group BBQs in setlements, which events could serve as group therapy sessions. this is people in trauma and all need therapy. but these are not terrorists or anti semitic guys. Peace.

Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel... Your mistakenly called "Palestinian" arabs can go back to Amman, Damascus, or even better, in the hole in the middle of the galaxy... The real owners, the Jews, are there now... The arab thieves and squatters are out!

You talked about arab villages being destroyed in 1948? Yes some were - the one who supported the jordanians, syrians, lebanese and egyptians and helped them militarily. They fought along side them. Did you expect the Generals to leave hostile villages behind our lines? Thats madness. Not all the villages were destroyed. The palestinian arabs who remained neutral (few existed) were allowed to stay. Thats why villages like Abu Ghosh are still standing. Also, some arabs took our side - beduins from the negev, and we even had Druzim from syria and lebanon joining the fight on our side. The palestinians had a choice in the beginning- they made the wrong one. We did some uncomfortably bad things and so did you guys. That is now in the past. But now we have to wait for calm and try and talk to one another. We cannot get caught up in who did what when and how and who killed this ones mother or this ones brother or whatever. If we do that we'll all be back at square one. We are not your oppressors. We are your neighbours. We have disagreements, sometimes violent ones. But we are flesh and blood just like you. We breath, feel, think, and bleed just like you. We started from next to nothing and look what we have built. You guys could do the same if you wanted to. That means you have to talk and not fight. We can control our extremists, the crazies, but they are a lot less violent than your extremists. You need to stand up and sort them out. Its either that or we do it for you, but that upsets you. Maybe after all is said and done we can talk. The PLO was a terrorist group but most of them, while they dont try much to stop terror, are not engaged in it (except fatah and alaqsa martyrs brigade). Now we talk to them because they stop fighting. Think about it. Its not impossible. You have to open your mind. Your a good man Ray, but you suffer from tunnel vision sometimes. Shalom Haver

No, Rodger, Arabs are not required to wear an identifying mark. According to Ray, who hates settlers and writes that they are extremist and violent (actually, "they" are not violent , if you check on their acts of violence towards Arabs you will find very few, and no roadside shootings (like the murder of 9 mo pregnant Mrs. Hatuel and her 4 little girls, including a 2 yr old, shot at point-blank range) Why their IDs have a code indicating that Israeli Arabs are Arabs I don't know. Maybe to explain why they were never in the military? I don't think it's a racist thing, as they not only have the vote as do all citizens , but are also Knesset members in their own parties, many of which openly seek the destruction of Israel. Read the books of Walter Laqueur, the historian, to get some historical background. He is notably fair and unbiased. Ray is hardly unbiased. Another good book is "From Time Immemorial". It can be bought through amazon.com, I believe.

Please list the names of the 400 destroyed Arab villages, their locations on a map of the British Mandate and the dates of their destruction. Also your sources. I am very interested in the proof you have of this. I assume it occurred after the creation of the state of Israel and that there is no lack of documentation in the US press at the time. Thank you. Is the information in English. It is found in UN papers of 1948?

The author seems to refer to "palestinian Arabs" as "citizens" of Israel. They are not. There are a million or so Arab Israeli citizens. (Many Arabs did remain at the urging of Israel to live peacefully in Israel in 1948.) And they have the same rights as Non-Arab Israelis. They are not required to serve in the military although they can volunteer if they choose (and some, primarily Bedouin, do). However, the "palestinian Arabs" of WB and G are not citizens. Israel has not annexed the WB and Gaza.

While masquerading as unbiased you finally show your true colours by writing your skew of so-called 'facts'. Give us a break Ray, you are biased and it shows when you write like all anti-Israel journalists with a kiss on the cheek one minute and a knife in the back in the next. Read up on your history and then write some truth for a change. Your people have so many crimes to answer for - stop trying to blame it all on Israel, take responsibility for where your people are by recognising the lying, corruption and distortion of the facts, and not just for the last 30 odd years, it goes far beyond that.

The moral equivication was disgusting! It is like saying that Jeffrey Dahmer's victims deserved to be butchered because they were homosexuals. I would like all of you who supported Disengagement to look at these pictures. Read the articles about the former residents of Gaza living in tents or on the streets penniless. Was this all worth it?

If Isreal did not want the synagogues destroyed, as they have destroyed mosques with impunity, then why did they leave them after promising to take them down? Did Isreal really expect the Palestinians, after 3 decades of oppression, to want to see Jewish power? while I commend the "fairness" of the article, Hanania plays into the same irrational, "we do what we want but not the Palestinians" blame game as the settlers.

To compare them to the Jews is to compare a retard to Einstein. THEIR IS NO COMPARISION.

The Arabs made them up to steal Jewish land! The Arabs should go back to their Arab homelands where they belong! http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/palestine.htm

who have chimed in with their opinions. It is such a complex religious/political amalgam of "stuff" that it is hard to wraps ones mind around it all. Especially as an American Christian who only hears things filtered through media sources. To hear the voice of real people who are involved in the process is fascinating and appreciated.

this article is classic bait, the standard moral equivalence article, twisting truth in a proven and standardized method. this is designed to provoke emotional responses, and these blogs are no doubt rated according to responses. standard bait here, the classic marxist elitist academic intellectual povocateur; or an antisemitic muslim, or just a self-hater

The ugly truth on both sides is painful. But it's good to see a spirited debate among some, and the usual from the rest. :) I think I like writing the ugly truth. The response can be as humorous as the humor itself. Thanks Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

The reason behind what seems to be an incomprehensible situation is that Zionism came before Nazism. The Zionist movement was born in the late 1800's and officially kicked of it's innaguration at the first World Zionist Organization meeting in Basel in 1897. Zionism predated Nazism and it was Hitler who devloped his "pure race" ideology from reading earlier Zionists works--like Herzl and Jabotinsky. People struggle with this fact and ask how could Jews behave like Nazi's when in reality, NAZI'S WERE BEHAVING LIKE ZIONIST JEWS. Not many understand the origin of the Zionist movement. It's a lie Zionism was born in response to "anti-semitism" or nazism as I pointed out the first Zionist meeting was held in 1897 decades before the rise of Nazism. ZIONISM WAS A RESPONSE TO ASSIMILATION OF JEWS INTO WESTERN SOCIETY. Zionists didn't want that as they feared that would dilute their "jewishness". They had a supremacist notion of their race and any mixing was viewed as harmful to their tribe. Therefore, the answer was to establish A JEWISH ONLY STATE where the purity of the "jewish people" can be maintained. Hitler was a God send to the Zionist because before WW2, over 80% of Jews rejected the zionist ideology. Let me explain this way, today David Duke is on the far right fringe of where most whites are on the issue of race but let's say the blacks rise and slaughter 6 million whites( for argument sake as we know that number is about as worthless as the toilet paper found in your local gas station restroom)...and then all of sudden racist whites like David Duke (Zionist Jews) take advantage of that horrible situation and the rest is history. Tranfer or genocide of blacks and other races will become vogue. That's how Zionists managed to hijack "judaism". So now, for many Jews who became part of this racist Zionist cult, many don't have a problem slaughtering Palestinians, erasing them from the planet because of all the Zionist propaganda that goes on---mostly fueled by what happened during the "holocaust". Norman Finklestein exposes this industry and how Zionists manipulate the "holocaust" to push for their agenda. What's import to understand is that Jews are not behaving like Nazi's, that's not historically accurate--if one wants to get technical--it was Germans who were behaving like Zionists. Zionists were engaged in ethnic cleansing campaigns against Palestinians in the early 1900's and the Zionist ideology--which was influenced by the idea of a "pure race"--which at the time was getting support from science and Darwin's evolution theory--and also the eguenic movement which had many Jews extolling the virtues of creating a "pure race". This is the shit Jews dabbled in and it was only later Hitler began to copy Zionists. If Jews can create a "PURE JEWISH STATE" why can't Aryans do the same in Germany? That's the context of Zionism. They hated the idea Jews were becoming "goyemized" in the western world. It's no different than white supremacists who constantly raise the alarm of race mixing. It's hard for many to understand that Jews CAN BE SUPREMACIST AND RACISTS because of all the propaganda that ALWAYS portray them as victims of such hate. In fact, there are no worst racists on the planet than jewish racists because of the fact it comes with God's blessing and stamp of opproval--AND THEY WILL PROVIDE THE VERSE AND SCRIPTURE TO BACK IT UP!!!

Why did you expect them to do anything else? My theory is that people who support Palestinians don't do it because of the Palestinians. Any objective review of their behavior leaves no reason to support them. Rather, Palestinians are a proxy, a stand in for a set of values that liberals have. To find fault in Palestinians is to find fault in the values, and since the values are theirs, its finding fault in them. So they take it personally when the Palestinians don't play the vaunted role they've given them in their world view. Well, here's some news for you. Get used to it, because the Pals are going to give you a lot more evidence of their inacapacity to govern themselves before long. Learn about the Kurds and support their desire for a state, and feed the hungry in Africa. Far more worthy.

How dare you comparing a nation under occupation to another than is OCCUPYING? who dare you compare the victim to the intruder? the robbed to the theif? we are on OUR OWN Land, and strangers from all pars of this universe came and kicked us out and have been terrorizing us for the last 57 years and then a hypocrite like you with a zionist wife dares to come and utter words of no meaning to an audience of hatred against us? the Palestinian people, the true owners of this land. This is not rehetric as you a self-hating Arab might like to call, this is the truth that a person like you from Chicago can never understand, it is the averge refugee (who did no harm to no one to be born as a refugee for ALL his life to make room for yevgenys plosky's and falshumra) in Dheisheh and Jabalya who understands it well and better than you and Israel

Truth is fine Ray but incitement isnt good -look at all the crazies you brought out (apart from daisy daisy gimme your answer do, but I was at least expecting that one) Everyone has a biased view - me as an Israeli Jew (Im not an arab after all), and you as a Palestinian Christian (youre not Jewish). Do people expect a moderate palestinian like you to tell them things from a jewish perspective? No, dont be crazy! They know youre a moderate palestinian. So you give them a moderate headache. kacha. A suggestion: stick to more subtle humor. It suits you better. And for Diasy yafa sheli: GET A LIFE BABY! Shalom Haver :) So my suggestion is this

First a message to Daisy: Palestinians may not have existed, but they certainly exist now. And you know who created them? We did. Their national movement is a response to our national movement. anyway Nationality is identified in Israeli ID cards. If you are a Jew, it says you are a Jew. If you are something else, it says you are Israeli. It doesn't say you are Arab. It's not racist for the very simple reason that you always can become a Jew. Though you cannot swap race. Can a black person join the Klu Klux Klan after converting to whitishness? Is it nice to be identified as a non-Jew and thus an Arab? No it's not nice. But have you thought about WHY it's not nice? I mean, I'm not angry that Palestinians burned down those synagogues. It would have been nice if they hadn't but after all those years of occupation...well I can forgive them for that. So maybe in that same mindset you can understand why after 100 years of wars and terrorism Jews want to know who is who. We are a minority in the Islamic Arab world desperatly trying to survive. Palestinian, Arab and Islamic leaders have publicly stated over the years that they will outbreed us. Think about the nihilism contained in such a policy. What are babies in such a worldview other than weapons? It's not so strange that people are convinced to become human bombs if you consider the womb to be a means to achieve destruction. Israel is not about being nice or about making the perfect democracy. Israel is about Jewish survival in an Islamic world which desires its destruction. And when you are a minority in that Islamic world which opposes the emancipation of minorities with violence and terrorism then you wanna know who is who who.

You pretend to have a balanced viewpoint. However your anti-Jewish bias is very obvious. The Arabs are a murderous barbaric people. Islam is a death culture. Arabs have constantly attacked Jews since well before the founding of the Jewish State. All offers of peace by Israel have been rejected by the Arabic and Islamic world. You should start telling the truth and cut out the rubbish platitudes and pretense at even handedness. It is clear that beneath the surface you harbor a poisonous hatred of the Jewish people.

Ray Hanania is ashamed of Palestinians! What a fox and a lier! He is trying to use the fact of Palestinians destroyng synagogues to blame Jews for everithing. What an " honest and truthfull reporte"r! The only thing I am ashamed of is he still printed in some newspapers.

To read Mr. Hanania's article, you would think that Israeli Arabs have special codes stamped on their ID documents that uniquely identifies them. This is, as any informed person knows, untrue. Rather, the ID documents of *all* citizens include their ethnicity. Now, one may or may not agree with this, which is more typical of the European (and Middle Eastern) nation-states than of the USA "no-nation-but-Americans" history. But it is certainly not "abhorrent to most civilized nations" -- it is something most civilized nations do, in order to guarantee the special cultural rights granted to the various national communities to which most states have a responsibility. In Israel, the Jewish, Arab, and other communities.

You never get to read anyone tell it like it is. All the Arab papers bash Israel. All the Jewish papers bash Palestine. No one says it like it is. Thanks. Keep it up. Reading the sins of both sides does wake some people up from their duty bound biases, and maybe they will wake up. More. More. More. I have to admit, I do like to see the Jews and Israelis squirm over the issue of how they mark non-Jews on their documents. Every Arab knows that's true and Israelis have an excuse for everything. I have never seen anyone write that before. It's also good to see that there as as many fanatics on the Jewish side as there are on the Arab side. Yesssss!

Mr. Hanania, It should be obvious to everyone why Israel kept the synagogues in tact. They wanted to show the world how barbaric the arabs are destroying places of worship (even though they are empty buildings built only a few decades ago max). I think they should have kept the settlers houses in tact so that we can feel sorry for their synagogues and not destroy them. Not leave the rubble for us to clean up. I dont think the gazans should be blamed for how they acted. Its their land and they can do what they want in it.

The Gaza settlements were built on land that wasn't Israel's. The government admitted as much and withdrew. Now the land belongs to the Palestinians, to do with it as they please; maybe they'll build housing, or maybe agriculture, or maybe hotels. But wait, there are synagogues all over the place, and if the Palestinians touch any synagogue anywhere, it's proof that they're brutal anti-Semites! What is this nonsense? They're supposed to shelve whatever they have planned for these areas because of some abandoned buildings? The land is theirs now. All of the Torah scrolls and everything else are long gone. How many synagogues were knocked down by Israelis over the years to build the shiny office buildings and hotels in downtown Tel Aviv? It was the Israelis who knocked down everything else in the settlements, and the Israelis who expelled the families. They deliberately left the synagogues standing so they could then score some cheap PR points when the Palestinians knocked them down. This whole thing is a petty publicity stunt on Sharon's part.