Please tell me where in the Koran is the word Jerusalem mentioned? How is it Jerusalem is sacred to Arabs? I would appreciate if you clarify this for me with facts which I can re- check on my own so I can be better informed. Thank you most kindly.

My congratulations to Mr. Hanania, it requires guts in a society that does not recognize truth, to be able to tell it. I hope many Palestinians read your article, it will do them a lot of good. I just hope that they do not dismiss it by calling you a traitor

DEAR HANANIA BACK IN 1967, KING HUSAIN OF JORDAN WAS AN ISRAELI ALLIES, IN ADDITION, HAND OVER WEST BANK TO ISRAELIS, AND PULLED HIS TROOPS WITHOUT ANY FIGHT TO BE MENTIONED. MORE OVER HE ADMITTED THAT HE PASS MANY IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO THE ISRAELIS. AND PLEASE YOU HAVE TO BRING TO OUR ATTENTION THE HELP IDF HAVE RECEIVED FROM USA AND THE WESTERN COUNTRIES INTELLIGENCES,,>???? AND DO NOT SHOW THE IDF AS AN UNDEFEATED ARMY , YOU CAN WRITE THE STORY OF OCTOBER WAR AND HOW THIS ARMY FINISHED WITH LESS TIME THAN SIX DAYS, AND HOW THE AMERICAN HELPED TO RETURN THIS IDF TO THE WAR AGAIN???????

cut the head of the snake ....the main problem is the ocupation which is one the israili one other is the result of the only one .... it is social economic result ...it is the same in any ocupation ray you get the problem from its tail go to the head if you want to be fair your judge is not correct but what we will do [elfadi beyeamal kadi ] salam ya fadi not kadi

It is my mother. Thanks you Mr. Hanania for a deep (real deep) analysis. What a waste of space?

...but, the Arab press won't print anything like this, now will they? No, they won't. Hamas sure won't allow it. And that, sir, is a big part of the problem -- or at least a sign of it. Sadly, your people have fallen victim to the very hated, invective, and violence which they created. I wish I could offer you a solution to your tragic dilemma, but I'm at a loss. Good luck.

and i believe you are correct in this respect. they can blame israel for only so much. olmert, as sharon etc, is no messiah and palestinians should not think so. they should take their destiny in their own hands and do what they can to make their lives as good as can be. of course, if that is something that is important to them.

Jews came to steal this land sine early 1900s. We will not share this land with them. Until all refugees come back, and until things go back as it was before the british mandate. There is going to be no peace. History showed us that this is what happens in this area. Tyrans come and go, and Palestinians stay!

Someone please help me understand this concept? As far as I can recall Israel has always belonged to the Hebrew children(Jews).I know that Abraham was going to be blessed as a nation through Isaac primarily but also would Ishmael be blessed.I think we need someone with the Fathers heart of Abraham and the wisdom of King Solomon to solve this. Occupation though to me seem like the wrong term. If thats the case Americans are occupying the land of the Native Americans too and we should give it back! But then go where?Is there true 100% blood lines anymore? Aren't we all children of Abraham who have lost our way? I pray for peace but I don't want to see it at the cost of lives of G_d's children. It is sibling rivalry gone on for generations and generations. G_d help us all.

I don't think your opinion has any validity whatsoever when you make statements that imply that Israel shouldn't exist. You say, "I personally think that the Israelis are lucky that the Arabs did not form their own "mini-state" in 1967 because today, Israel would have been swallowed up by an Arab World that made all the right decisions. You think that the right decision was to swallow Israel up? Well, I have to give it to you, they did try. When the Arab League chairman declared a war of annihilation against the one day old state of Israel, every Arab country launched an all out attack and they used a lot more than "cardboard sabers." But you really highlight the problem when you refer to the "Palestinian Israelis." As far as I know, there has yet to be Palestinian declaration of independence. And even if there was, it would refer to the Arabs living outside of Israel. The Arabs living inside Israel would be considered Arab Israelis, not Palestinian Israelis. The problem is that the Palestinians refer to ALL OF ISRAEL as Palestine, therefore there's nobody to talk to because there's nothing to talk about.

BH now we have a strong Torah government. Totally Jewish, what a brocha. No need to consult goyim any more. Read what it says in the Torah about the Jewish conflict with Ishmail Ishmakel, pray to Hashem and He will hear and take away the problem. All the goyish theories in the world do not help. We know what to do

Before the 1900's the land (and it wasn't called Palestine) was a neglected, impoverished part of the Ottoman Empire. Do you really want to go back there? Ray hit the "Palestinian" problem right on the nail! Your best shot at self determination would be to take his advice.

No doubt that Palestinians have to do a lot of self-corrections tasks in order not only to learn from our mistakes and improve our future but also to send a positive message to the the Israelis and the world that we are also responsible to move many steps toward peace as we expect from the Israelis to do so. However, there is a distinction in my opinion between the failure itself and the causes that led to that failure. So the emphasis should always be on the main reason represented in the Israeli offensive and aggression as well as discriminative poliy agains palestinians and Israeli Arabs for a so called democratic state. In fact, palestinians have proved that they can practice democracy even more than Israelis do, taking into account the short period of time since we started to demonstrate this right (that was forbidden to be executed in the municipalities in west bank and gaza before Oslo accord by the Israeli military). Even though i personally prefer to have more colors within the palestinian political structure to include stronger parties from the liftist wings as well as more liberal representatives in order to balance the growth of Hamas, eventually, that will be better off for any democracy. Nevertheless, that will come through over years, what is more necessary now is to get red of the main invasion from west bank and gaza and jerusalem then we can focus on the "second occupation". I am not suggesting to ignore the internal problems and mistakes, but it will be a big misleading and even a justification for the Israelis to use that statement to further manipolate the international community as well as its own public opinion. Peace and justice for all.

Ray, I enjoyed reading your column today. A great improvement. Its a shame that your views are not shared by the majority of other Pals as we could have final negotiations now. Unfortunately I do not believe that most Pals would accept any withdrawal that Olmert makes as final regardless how fair he is being. The more he gives, the more Hammas claims victory and they will encourage the Pals to continue fighting and bombing. There will always be issues in the Pals' leadership (as there is in every leadership) and they will continue to blame Israel and we will always be their devil. I hope Olmert withdraws without concern for the Pals. He should only think about Israel's interest. He needs to secure Israel and its economy from terror. Wonderful if it could be negotiated soon, otherwise completely separate.

Mr American Ray Haninia , now living in USA for a long time , what do you knwo about occuptaion, have you lived in the west bank under occupation , probably not. The ocuupationis what causes all teh socail probelem the palestianins (we ) have. The occupation is the reason Hamas fights back. You are calling Hamas a terrorest goverment, you are either not palestinian , a complete traitor ,retarded or blind, we need a strong goverment and leaders to stay infont of Israel, leaders to be feared and give concsseions without nothing like the Fateh in the PA. Israel wated to creaqte another South Lebanaon (Lahhed army ) in teh west bank, let them that cannot happen. Why don't you tell us Ar Haninia how can we end the occupation and end get our rights back without resisitance. We tried negotiations for 12 years it proved useless, what did we get , nothing. no Palestinian will call another Palestinian who resists occupation a terrorest unless he is a traitor. Mr Hanaina , save your voice stay in Chicago and please stop clainming that you are Palestinian becuase worse than people like Dahlan. Ahh, I forgot you are married to jewish women, may you converted to Judiasim too

I have mentioned in a couple of talkbacks, sort of what you said in this article, about 'palestinians' not taking responsibility for their actions; that they are problem orientated, not solution orientated. You mentioned olmert playing the role of a fair father. Even if this were to happen, his decisions will still not be accepted as he is a Jewish Israeli and the argument will then be, the 'palestinians' were duped by the Jews (still). Anyway, i don't think that Israel will give up Jerusalem or part thereof only because of the holiness of the area to the Jews. In all honesty, apart from the fact that muslims built a mosque on Judaism's holiest site, at a time when we were unable to defend it, what other claims does Islam have to Jerusalem?

Strong Torah government?

how to manipulate the adversaries.

If the Jews had been smart the land of Israel would have been less problematic. The reason the Jews don't have peace is because of the Jewish values like morality, ethics and tolerance of the enemies. Why are not there any Jews in Iraq, Egypt or Syria? The Arabs know well how to cleanse themselves of undesirables while the Jews do not. Even when the Jews do know they would still not going to pursue the Arab type hateful policies.

There is a reason for such identification. The enemies are trying to detach the Jews from their history, land, culture, etc. and present themselves as the true owners of the land of Israel.

It is comical. A Palestinian is not an ethnicity. There has never been a Palestinian sovereignity. They are Arabs who occupy 99.9% of the Middle Eastern landmass...but they are not happy that the Jews have less than 0.1% of it. They want 100%.

They have a better strategy than the Jews.

They've assigned an Arab population claiming the Palestinian identity to destroy Israel and since they cannot do it they are devising all kinds of definitions like Palestinian, occupation and masterminding all kinds of warfares to terrorize the innocent Jewish civilians blowing up the schools or restaurants while selling the lies to the anti-Semitic groups or anti-Israel media.

If the palestinians have been around for such along time and can really trace their ancestry back to the begining of time you were and still are Jewish and Israeli, if not you reasoning is somewhat ambivilant

Re-read your history books - and read some objective ones, not the fictional ones your leaders make up. History shows that different peoples rise up to try and destroy us, but Jews outlive them all. And history also shows that Jews have been in Israel watching other peoples come and leave for 5000 years. You have been lied to - Jews have been a continuous presence in Israel, albeit in smaller numbers until 1900's. And many of us were living in Arab countries - I am sure those countries would rather us be here than living with them there. DNA evidence shows that 98% of Jews have Middle Eastern origins - even those who look more European on the outside. It is terrible the way your people have been betrayed and lied to and sold down the river by your own leaders. I hope a solution is found soon, so that both sides can live in peace and raise kids in peace, but Jews leaving ISN'T going to be part of that solution - sorry to disappoint you!

Congratulations Mr. Hanania on looking the facts in the face .What used to be called "brainwash" in the days of Stalin has ruined the Palestinian people.

I think ray you atr not telling the truth, you are not feeling the occupation as it is? We are the Palestinian, not living in a dream, we are facing the occupation by all means with hope and not dream that one day this Israeli occupation will finished. This is written in Quran, the harsh Israeli occupation will come to end, then we will live after that with each other but not like now. You are talking about extremist. Who is the extremist? The one who forced to leave his home and land, or the other who destroy the house and kill the people. Is right that I canot reach my land, and an Israeli who come from any part of the world can? What is a misery situaion that the what called freedom world accept it. The real occupation that holds back Palestinians is the Israeli military. Finsh this occupation and the you will see what will happen.

Habibi, Have some self-respect and listen to this writer a little. He is one of you. I want to respect you but nobody stole anything from you. The world recognized Israel November29, 1947 with a U.N. resolution.The wars that you say caused refugees were defensive and won by Israel. How did 600k Arabs in Palestine before 1948 become 4.25m. today?Under the British mandate period from 1918 to 1948, the term "Palestinian" usually referred to anyone native to Palestine, whatever religion they may be (Muslim, Christian, Druze, Jew, etc.) The Gaza Strip was illegally taken by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan before 1967. Israel received them as booty after winning the Six Day Wary.They are disputed territories not "occupied" as you Pals erroneously call them. Read some history from others besides your inciteful Pal text books by leaders who take billions of your dollars to keep you in squalor. American writer Mark Twain wrote this, in 1867, about the land of Israel, which at the time was called Palestine: "Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes… the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… Palestine is desolate and unlovely… It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land." - from Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad.