What a brilliant perspective. The documentation of all that the Israelis have stolen from the Palestinians (and plan to seal) is startling. Hopefully, the American Israel-centric fanatics will not brand you as a Jew-hater for stating facts, as they've done with me.

Let's see. Ottoman Palestine included what we now call Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Jordan. The Jews were promised this land by the world. The British had a better idea and gave 83 percent to the Arabs by giving them Jordan. So the Jews were left with a measly 17%. Being good people, they started buying the land. They were paying as much as ten times the price of farmland in the US for this land sold to them by absentee owners and old line Arab families i the area. By the time 1948 came around, they had bought outright 20 percent of the arable land of what is now Israel. Still, the world suggested that the Jews divide their 17 percent with the local Arabs and divided it 55/45 with the Jews getting the larger portion. Sadly for the Jews, their portion included the arid desert called the Negev. In fact, the bulk of their 55 percent was desert land with only about 20 percent of it being arable and livable. The Jews accepted this offer. The Palestinians who also got some desert land in their mix along with some very fertile and rainy areas, refused the offer. Here's another number that comes up: 3. Three times the Palestinians refused a two entity solution, in 1937, 1947 and 2000. And 3 appears again when one counts the number of wars the Palestinians launched after receiving offers of a state. Another number the Palestinians seem to enjoy is 0. That's right,, zero. This is the number of Jews they like to have in their midst. Take a look at Gaza today: zero Jews. Take a look at east Jerusalem in 1949: zero Jews. Take a look in 1949 at the West Bank, which has another name, Judea and Samaria, relating to its thousands-year old connection to the Israelites and Jewish people: zero Jews, Zero is also important when one counts how many Jews were allowed to pray at the Western Wall from 1948 to 1967. Zero is the number of Jews left in Hebron, which had a Jewish population going back to biblical times, after the 1929 massacre of Jews there by the Palestinians. That zero is even more interesting if one considers the number 69. No, no, that's not a number relating to sex, it's the number of Jews killed there in Hebron in that massacre. Let's continue with numbers shall we? 1000. That number is lower than the total number of Qassem rockets launched from Gaza at Israel AFTER Israel left zero civilians and zero soldiers there. Now if you multiply that number, 1000, by another 1000 you get a million and if you multiply that by 750, you get 750,000,000. That number represents what the PA has reported as missing funds from its coffers over the past 6 years. This is European, American and Japanese money sent to the Palestinian people so that along with untold UNWRA money spent on them, they would move forward towards establishing infrastructure, hospitals, schools, hate-less textbooks, etc. That money is gone, possibly to some Swiss accounts, maybe some to Suha, and lots of it to nice villas currently inhabited by those who tasted some.

Now here's the math that really counts. First let's look at zero again. That is the total number of states the Palestinians control. Two would be a number that allows Israel to exist next to a Palestine, but so far we have not seen many Palestinians who want more than the number one. Sometimes they say they want two, but when you read the fine print, it appears they want two Palestinian states, next to Jordan which we already know is a Palestinian state. This gives us three. Three, you may recall, brings bad memories of Palestinians rejecting states and starting wars. Now at Camp David, Israel offered the Palestinians 100 percent of Gaza, 90 percent of the West Bank and one state. The Palestinians said no and started one war. Then the Israelis, prompted by Clinton came back with an offer of 100 percent of Gaza and 97 percent of the West Bank, sovereignty over east Jerusalem neighborhoods and the same Islamic holy places they already control. The Palestinians said, "sure, but only if we also get to flood your country with Palestinians and we control the one holiest site to Jews." We never got to learn whether Israel to accept this rejection because the Palestinians had already launched a war and elections were coming. Still, I think about that deal on the table of 97% and 100% and $30 billion in reparations, and one airport and one sea port and one true government and sovereignty over significant parts of Jerusalem and suddenly I think with pity of 7 million people living inside Israel who can't have peace and another 3 to 4 million people living in Gaza and Judea and Samaria who can't have peace and I wonder when the Palestinians will stop complaining, agree to compromise, which would be compromise number ONE in their history, so that we can all live in peace.

the problem with camp david was that when israel offered them how ever much of the west bank, arafat just turned it down, no counter offer or anything. Oh and then the whole reverting back to terrorism, yea that!

I might not always agree with you, especially in maths, but I do enjoy your way to say it.

Ray - stick to comedy, ok? Major settlement blocks will be kept by Israel under any final solution whether you like it or not. elen from southsea - keep on barking, your opinion means squat.

"Palestinian-Israeli math troubles began long before 1947 but that’s as good a point to star as any. " - Ray Why start at 1947? Because that's such a convenient starting point for your "thesis." After all if we started at 1923, we would see how 80% of "Palestine" was given to the Arabs to form Jordan. But why start at that point? It's so much easier to go by the traditional Arab propaganda timeline.

The fact that you have a Jewish wife will not make people listen you, although we do know that's the reason you decided to add it to this article. We are also not impressed with the fact that an Arab created algebra. The fact is that is probably the most recent thing an Arab has contributed to society. Actually, Persians are insulted by being called an Arab so an Arab actually hasn't contributed anything to society in the last oh thousand years except if you count head chopping.

Ray, Ray, Ray....... The Palestinians don't know math. If they did they would not have gambled their homeland away. When you are offered a homeland three times in the last 100 years and you say no hoping for more that reminds me of a degenerate gambler who can't lay off the roulette wheel at the casino even so the mathematical odds are in the house's favor. Ray stop complaining to the Jews and Israel. Work with your own people. That is if you have the guts to do so.

Hanania calls himself “ Palestinian” This terminology started about 40 years ago. Prior to 1967 “ Palestinian” meant a Jew. Arabs never called themselves “ Palestinians” When you talk about “ Palestinians you are basically talk about people who live in the area called “Palestine” the way you talk about California or Florida. Palestine was a name which British used during their mandate. This land includes area now called Jordan. Of course the first ones were Romans who after Jewish defeat in revolt named the land Judea by new name Paelestine in effort to erase any connection to the Jews. Jerusalem was named Aelia Capitoline. Amman was named Philadelphia and so forth... There were never “Palestinian people” in history. There were never Palestinian rulers, never “Palestinian Kingdom” or Palestinian tribes. There were never Palestinian Capital, definitely not Jerusalem. never any specific borders. Palestinians of today don’t have anything that make them different from, say Syrian or Jordanian. Those Arabs have no connection whatsoever with Greek people who were extermonated 3000 years ago called Philistins. There is no historian who claimed otherwise, even Arab historians. The whole idea of “ Palestinian people is simply brilliant PR. Why? Because ignorant people who don’t know history ( most people unfortunately) think that Palestinians are some kind of natives like Indians in US or Copts in Egypt. This is simply not true. Most Palestinians of today came after 1918 after Jews started to develop the country the way Turks flooded Germany and Algerians and others flooded England and rest of Europe. If you say Turk is native German, you will look stupid, but in this case people are just ignorant. If Palestinians are not “ native” what kind of claim do they have? Nada. Absolutely Zero. Just some examples. in 1937 the Arab leader Auni Bey Abdul Hadi tald Peel Committion: “ There in no country called “ Palestine” Palestine is the term Zionists invented. Palestine is alien to us. in 1946 Princeton Arab professor of Middle East studies Phillip Hiffi tald Anglo- American Committee” It is common knowledge there is no Palestine in history. in March 1977 Zahir Muh sein, an executive member of PLO said in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw: The Palestinian People does not exist. The creation of the Palestinian state only means for continue our straggle against the State of Israel Now just for Hanania. Since you don’t speak Arabic, Mr. Palestinian you should know, that in Arabic there is no letter “p”. Arabs can not pronounce “p” Arab says “ Falashninian”, not “ Palestinian”, Hanania. Hanania, you are lucky, many people in America and in Europe are very naive, so you can fool them, but we Jews and Israelis have long history. Arabs may be invented the word “ algebra”, but 35% of all Nobel price winners are Jews. You don’t have a chance to fool us, Hnooonia.

What's with comments like "there are no Palestinians" or "Arabs have not contributed to society in the last 1000 years?" Why dehumanize and insult others in a way you would not wish to be insulted? I didn't see Hanania insulting me in this article as a Jew or Israelis for being Israelis for that matter. His article is about history, politics and the conflict over land in which Israel is engaged with the Palestinians. In this article he's giving you the perspective of an educated individual with a Palestinian point of view. He's also engaging you in dialogue and providing his information in a civil and humorous way. What he's saying is not much different, by the way, than what most pro-Palestinians in Europe and the US say about similar issues. By making negative remarks about the Palestinians not being a people, not only are you denying them the same recognition you'd like them to give you, and not only are you sounding like counterparts to their extremists (yeah, the ones who were elected to govern them), but you are entirely missing his point and any reader can see this. It's lame. Respond to his points if you can, provide your own data, counter his mostly false numbers, but do so respectfully even if aggressively and by providing valid information. Please avoid these ugly, meaningless insults, they diminish us all.

But you definatly failed history (and if honesty was a subject you'd fail that too). In 1920, at the San Remo conference, the league of nations granted Britain a mandate over Palestine, a mandate is temporary control, which the owning country should control and prepare it for independence, in Palestine's case, the independence should of been granted to the Jewish people. In 1922, Britain made a step against the mandate she was given, she ripped off 76% of the mandate and gave it to a Bedouin kingdom. In 1937 Britain proposed to divide the remaining 24% of westren Palestine so that the Arabs would recive 79%, the Jews 18% and the British keep a 3%, that means that the Arabs would recive 95.2% of Palestine. The Arabs rejected that offer (with a wave of terrorism which left 400 Jews and 150 British dead). In 1947, the UN proposed to divide the country and give 55% to the Jews and 45% to the Arabs, this means Arabs recive 89.2% of the territory, the Arabs once again rejected the offer, we, by the way, danced in the streets. Yes, most "Arab" cities were captured before May 15, but the war of independence started in November 29th 1947, when the Arabs attacked a bus and killed 5 Jews (civilians), the violence on the Arab side continued until we had to take action. Haifa was actually predominantly Jewish (70%), Jaffa too, Safed was, according to all historical records, the place where the sahanadrin sat, long before you invented algebra, then it moved to Tiberias. The Palestinians did not seize any territories eventually, but they definatly seized many villages and land owned by Jews during the war, the fact that we were better soldiers does not mean that the Palestinian did not want to conquer all of the land and throw us in the sea, it just means that theres a gap between reality and Arabs' wishful thinking, gladly that gap remains because if both things correlate I would be writing this while swimming to Cyprus.

What's with comments like "there are no Palestinians" or "Arabs have not contributed to society in the last 1000 years?" >>>”Palestinians are simply Arabs. This is a fact, not insult. Arabs contibuted, but not “Palestinians” Jews called themselves “Palestinians” Arabs in Palestine called themselves South Syrians, part of Big Syria. Palestinian nationalism is a 40 years phenomenon.<<< Why dehumanize and insult others in a way you would not wish to be insulted? I didn't see Hanania insulting me in this article as a Jew or Israelis for being Israelis for that matter.>>> Why truth is dehumanization? Why to say that “ Palestinian” terminology is a tool to fight the Jews is insulting? Clarify.<<< His article is about history, politics and the conflict over land in which Israel is engaged with the Palestinians. In this article he's giving you the perspective of an educated individual with a Palestinian point of view.>>> What makes you think Hanania is very educated? Ask him if there is a song prior to 1967 about “Palestinians” He will not give it to you, since there is not one. Jews had hundreds of songs about Palestine. For example Jerusalem Post used to be Palestinian Post. Palestinians even can not pronounce “ Palestinian.” It is either Falashtinian or Balastinian. There is No “ P” in Arabic.<<< He's also engaging you in dialogue and providing his information in a civil and humorous way.>>> No, he is NOT engaging in dialog. If he were, he would put his articles in the Hebrew edition of Ynet, which Israelis read. He works to promote himself with American audience, mostly spectators, not Israelis.<<< What he's saying is not much different, by the way, than what most pro-Palestinians in Europe and the US say about similar issues. By making negative remarks about the Palestinians not being a people, not only are you denying them the same recognition you'd like them to give you, and not only are you sounding like counterparts to their extremists (yeah, the ones who were elected to govern them), but you are entirely missing his point and any reader can see this. It's lame. >>> Once again you talk about “ negative remarks”. This is nonsense wish Palestinians were People, they would behave responsibly, unfortunately they are not<<< Respond to his points if you can, provide your own data, counter his mostly false numbers, but do so respectfully even if aggressively and by providing valid information. Please avoid these ugly, meaningless insults, they diminish us all. >>> When one behaves in self destructive ways and you put mirror in front of him this is great service, not insult. We as Jews don’t need Arab validation in our homeland. There is not a people on this green Earth who have more documentation and title on this land. Just open your Bible. <<<

Stupid Arabs are fighting for less land than they could have gotten in 1948. If they keep fighting they will get nothing. Arabs and their supporters may be big 0s, but they'll still be left with nothing in the end.

Because he is a LIAR! Do you really think the jews started the war in '48..?? Tiberias and Haifa were never partitioned by the UN to the Arabs... You can throw around numbers all day and claim that they are meaningful but the fact of the matter is - when you look at the pre-'67 borders you will see how vulnerable Israel is. You claim it was 45% to 55%... does that count the negev..? You know, that desert that constitutes two-thirds of Israel's land...? Were the palestinians EVER made an offer that was good enough for them..??You can twist the numbers all you want but your friends in Gaza will continue to fire Kassams on southern Israeli villages and in turn they will be fired upon by tanks.. They will continue to lose more innocent victims than we will ,but will that stop them...!?!? Do they care that more Kassams = more Palestinian "civilian" casualties? ?? I think not...

Jews were never reffered to as "Palestinians" - always jews , or hebrews, or Israelites,etc.. Look it up- you know the story of Gamla, Josephus, etc.. So enough with this silly argument "palestinians are myth"...Get over it!!

Palestinians are Arabs! So?!!!! I missed the point there... Yes we are Arabs and very proud to be ones.. The artifical borders drawn by the Turks, British, and so on only aimed at dividing the Arabs into colonies and countries( divide and conquer). We should all become one country by the end of the day because we are one! This day should be near (compare it to the EU which is comprised of peoples from different ethnicities and backkgrounds). Go back to history: Jews in the Arab World used to identify themselves as Jew-Arabs.. Does this make them a myth/ fantacy?!! Don't think so... Please ensure accurancy..

Truth hurts doesn't it! Too bad all comments up there are written by a bunch of spolied losers who think Israel is the center of the world and other countries follow.. "Arabs" is a big ZERO; I agree. It should however be obvious that we- the West (including the US)- are making use of Israel as a functional entity to serve and only serve the West. Once this service is over, the support shall stop! What is Israel worth after that? The big 0 you are all referring to. Never think big of yourselves... Cheers,

Here is what you said. "the United Nation’s Partition gave the Jews 55 percent of the British Mandated territory of Palestine while Arabs were “given” 45 percent. Not quite an even split. But close." The above statement is rediculous. Have you even looked at a map of the mandate? You are saying that the Israel of today is bigger than all of Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza combined. You are showing a complete lack of historical knowledge. Stan

(1) to deny the existence of the palestinians can be only the lunacy of americans who don't serve in the territories. The real world exist, gents! come and see it! by the way, there were no US in 1775, no Italy in 1859, no Germany in 1869 and so on... nations have a beginning. There is a palestinian nation; (2) the creation of Transjordan in 1922 was not illegal, was stolen from the jewish home : the article 25 of the mandate allowed the British to do whatever it wanted east of the jordan river.

2+2=peace. there.. wait..thats 5 letters not 4 were doom..

its not even in the atlas i never heard of palestinians before untill i came here

Not Josefus or Gamla. Look it up during British mandate. Go to University library and ask librarian for a history book about mandate period. They have lots of books in English there, Edan in case you still not fluent in Hebrew...

First of all Israel is part of the West by all criteria.American founders were inspired by Hebrews. People all over the world care about Israel, even Muslims in their suicidal ways. Without Jews there is no Western civilization Sam, so what the hell you are talking about? The fact is you came here to read Jewish newspaper, not what's going on in Chechnia. Even your own name came from Hebrew prophets and famous Biblical figures, Samuel and Samson. You can believe what you want, but I believe you are ignorant.

Read great post from #18. He tell you how Arabs feel and they are right. There is not much difference between any Arab country. There less difference than between Florida and Alabama. This is the fact, no matter how " clever" leftist you are. This is not me, all Arabs saying that ( behind closed doors) and sometimes openly like #18. Only ignorant or leftist can not see that. I respect Arabs like #18, who tell the truth. With honest enemies we can make peace easier than with fake lovers of Zion.

" E = MC squared" - Old Hadith of Muhammad Arabs also were first and last to visit Uranus, Mr Hanania.

...how you define Arabs. Original Arab tribes are only in Saudi Arabia. All other Arabs were multitude of tribes with different cultures and tongues. They were converted and Arabized by force. Some original people remained like original Biblical Egyptians called Copts or Assyrians and original people who speak Aramaic. Arabs are people, who speak Arabic,. similar definition as Europeans. This is the reason they will never be one true country, just like Europe. This is a wet dream that never worked before. Nasser tried that arrangement and it never worked. Try to make France and England an unified country. You need a comic for that. But you have a right to dream. Arabs mostly have loyalty to their clans and extended families as you know. The idea of one state is good as an idea only.

Once for all, come and see here the real world! I have served months in the territories, I have risked my life. Contrary to you, i have the right to speak on behalf of MY country. Denying the existence of the palestinians is a sick joke or ideological blindness !

You go jelicious You fogot: Jews have one holy city, Jerusalem, Arab have three. Why so greedy. Also, if so holy, why did the Muslims allow it to become so dilapidated during their rule? Ray, has your wife divorced you yet?