Nobody here cares for you or your fables. Please go away and try to get a job at Al-Manar.

Ray, maybe you are smart after all. You bash Zionists day and night in a Zionist paper, and they pay you for it. Or does Ynet print your articles to show that there really are no Palestinian moderates, even ones living in the USA? You clearly have a vendetta against ZIonists and by the tone of this article find the Palestinians blameless. So who is dumber? I"ll leave it to the talkbackers to decide.

Stay strong, Ray... keep speaking the truth... and I pray one day, the fogs of hatred and war will clear. You know, it's the silence of the bystanders, of Canada and the EU in particular, that really upsets me. The USA and Israel are partners in crime, though there are many Americans and Israelis who are speaking out and trying to get heard. Another holocaust and the masses stay silent. When will the human race learn!? Unfortunately, it's the victims who seem learn to become like their abusers.....

You print Hanania's drivel. Next you will be selling an interest in your paper to old-line German Nazi families like the DuMonts or the Krupps.

Talks like a Palestinian, walks like a Jew. We've got your number Ray.

Once again an anti-zionist attempts to portray himself as an intellectual do-between in a zionist forum. Ray, remain what you are; a revisionist and an "alleged" comedian. You offer nothing in the way of practical solutions which we, as readers, could intelligently discuss.......just the "same old same old" drivel on how your people are the "oppressed" with a no fault clause included as always. If your "alleged" desire was to make a positive contribution to the situation at hand, I must say that you have have failed miserably.

A wonderful job!

Palestinian People - the MYTH of rewritten Middle East history. You will find Palestine listed as a region as it always has been, but definitely never a country. During the 19 years that these territories - including Jerusalem and Gaza - were occupied by the kingdoms of Jordan and Egypt, no one talked about a Palestinian state nor a Palestinian people. These Arab states recognized no such thing. The fact simply is that 'there are no Palestinians nor were there any'. These people are generic Arabs like all other Arabs, and they happen to live in a region called Palestine. They are not a separate people. Anymore than Siberians are a separate people in Russia. Israel did not go to war against a Palestinian state and occupy its land. Rather, Israel was attacked by six Arab countries at once. She defended herself, defeated her attackers, and won the so-called territories, not from the Palestinians, but from Jordan and Egypt. And the Golan Heights from Syria. Most Arabs living in Palestine today are not indigenous to the region. It was not until after the Jews had changed deserts and swamps into a productive and thriving land that the Arabs started migrating there. For two thousand years the central mountainous region of Israel was known as Judea and Samaria, as any medieval map of the area testifies. However, the state of Jordan occupied the area in 1948 and renamed it the 'West Bank'. This is a funny name for a region that actually lies in the eastern portion of the land and can only be called “West” in reference to Jordan. The term “Palestinian" is itself a masterful 'twisting of history'. To portray themselves as indigenous, Arab settlers adopted the name of an ancient Canaanite tribe, the Philistines, that died out almost 3000 years ago. The connection between this tribe and modern day Arabs is nil. If the Palestinians are indeed a 'myth', then the real question becomes “Why?” Why invent a fictitious people? The answer is that the myth of the Palestinian people serves as the justification for Arab occupation of the Land of Israel - 'not the other way round'! NOBODY wants them! Ask Lebanon! Ask Egypt! Ask Syria! Ask Iran! The whole of the Middle East has had EXPERIENCE with the 'so-called' Palestinian's. But, they make a good WEAPON to use against the Jew's!

Hey Ray, If you "have no idea how many Palestinian homes, not just in Israel but in the occupied territories, (that Israelis say doesn’t exist) were destroyed simply for displaying the Palestinian national flag"....then you shouldn't mention such a thing in your article as IF IT WERE TRUE. Such a statement is incredibly irresponsible, and full of speculation. If you insist on writing, at least write like a professional.

This statement has never applied to Zionism, Ray. To say it does is to neglect all the historical, archeological, genetic, and spiritual ties that the jews have always felt towards this piece of land. Like I keep saying, most Israelis realize that the Palestinians exist and are here to stay whether we like it or not. The problem of how to deal with them does not take away from the fact that Israel today is still a dream come true and one of the jewish peoples greatest treasures. We don't want to rule the world like the Islamo-fascists, just that one tiny piece of land. ... Is it to much too ask of the palestinians to let us live in peace?? Ray, do you think that Israel was so eager to go to war that we would sacrifice 6 soldiers in a "staged" act of provocation..?? Think hard about that one

You Get Gaza. You attack. You get Lebanon. You attack. Anything and everything that is given to the Arab people, they use as a platform to degrade and attack Israel. Peace with the "Palestinians" will come as soon as you stupid Honor & Shame society is replaced by one based on truth. Until then, you will suffer the fate you have brought upon yourself.

Hanania talks about Israelis not recognizing Palestinian "refugees" who still live in the land. Yet Hanania ignores the equal number of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The events of the last two months have proven that the very concept of "peace" with Moslems or Arabs is futile. They NEED a constant state of war with non-Moslems. It is dictated by their facist ideology which masquerades as a "religion."

Are you sure you're not the one in denial? Arabs living in Palestine did not own land in Palestine -- read up on your Ottoman history and land ownership laws. Ottoman effendis owned the land. The 1948 war began when the Arab League denied the UN partition and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq invaded Israel with the intention of fulfilling the Islamofascist Nazi-allied Grand Mufti of Jerusalem's dream of pushing Israel into the sea. Since then, the Arab nations have proven themselves continuously inept as a military force while Israel fought a continued war for its existence and sought to force protective boundaries to defend its borders. Meanwhile, Fatah and other terror groups decided that Arabs formerly living in Palestine and now living in territory that was Jordanian (West Bank) and Egyptian (Gaza) will now be called "Palestinians" because Nationalism, even if artificially created, is a powerful tool for terrorist ideology. "Palestinians" were a nation while Nasser was lobbying the rest of the Arab world create the United Arab Republic? That's a bit far fetched. Israel continues to be attacked in various ways across its borders. Today, Ahmadinejad has positioned Iran with a goal of destroying Israel. Even new borders created by its withdrawal from Gaza and the destruction of the settlements. Israel does not have its head in the sand regarding "Palestinians." Israel is very well aware that the "Palestinians" are there shooting Kassam rockets, knifing tourists, blowing up pizza parlors with suicide bombs, tunneling and kidnapping soldiers.

I'm still confused why people who lived in the area of Palestine were forced to give up their homes? My parents lost their homes to the Russians in WWII. But who had the right to ask Palestinians to leave their homes so that Israel could be established? God? The UN? England, France, USA??? Jean Bricmont wrote: "There are basically two arguments that have justified establishing the State of Israel in Palestine: one is that God gave that land to the Jews, and the other is the Holocaust. The first one is deeply insulting to people who are profoundly religious, like most Arabs, but of another creed. And, for the second, it amounts to making people pay for a crime that they did not commit. Both arguments are deeply racist, with their claim that it is right for Jews, and only Jews, to set up a state in a land that would obviously be Arab, like Jordan or Lebanon, if not for the slow Zionist invasion. This is illustrated by the "law of return": any Jew, anywhere, having no connection with Palestine whatsoever, and not suffering from the slightest persecution, can, if he so wishes, emigrate to Israel and easily become a citizen, while the inhabitants who fled in 1948, or their children, cannot. Add to that the fact that a city claimed to be Holy by three religions has become the "eternal capital of the Jewish people" (and only them) and one should start to understand the rage that all this provokes throughout the Arab and Muslim world." (Jean Bricmont is a member of the Brussells Tribunal and has written a book called Humanitarian Imperialism)

So whats your solution Arja? Are you for peace or are you choosing a side like all of the rest of the idiots in this forum?

Hey Hanania, you keep talking about respecting Palestinian rights, but how about respecting Israeli and Jewishh rights, as for great Arab victories against Israel, the only thought of not beign completely crushed by the IDF is a great victory, remember the other great Arab victor, Nasser, after the six day war. and going back to rights, is one of the rights you claim for Palestinians the right to destroy Israel.

I guess the fact that this is an "Opinion" column means that Hanania is free to make untrue statements that lack any basis in fact such as, 'Since Israel’s military was forced to leave Lebanon again by Hizbullah , many Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims around the world have celebrated the “great Hizbullah victory” that the Israelis say “doesn’t exist, either.'" The IDF has not departed Lebanon and will not do so until the UNIFIL force is established with a firm mandate. The war was ended by Israel's compliance with UN Resolution 1701 rather than by being "forced to leave" by Huzbullah. Hanania's misleading statements, whether intentional or negligent, reflect the perpetual subtle anti-Semitism that passes as journalism and policy among a great number of the worlds writers and rulers. Such anti-Semitism is just religiously and legally sanctioned hatred in most of the Arab and Muslim world and is based on the economics of oil and trenchant Gaullism in Europe (see the establishment of the Euro-Arab Dialogue in response to the OPEC oil price increase of 5% per month). Clearly, if religion and misguided understanding cannot foster anti-Semitism, economic pressure sure can.

History shows the Jews were ethicly cleansed out of Palestine by the Babalonians, Romans and the Arabs- are you hoping for another round? The same as what happened to them in Spain, England Germany Russia, Poland Hungary, Greece Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis etc. The Arabs were subjugated under the Turks for 400 years the British and the French for 30. All-stop the stupid blame game- we now have 22 Arab states 200 million arabs- time to accept 1 state of 5 million Jews and stop crying and whining.. Israel- stop sending up the F 16 fighters every time a soldier is taken or stubs his toe.

There are enough grievances on both sides going back 100 years. When are you going to propose solutions? Israel has enough finger pointing it can do as do the Palestinians. This article, and much of what you write - particularly of late, adds NOTHING to a solution.

You are exploring Democratic culture to fight Democracy. But you are not the first who is doing so. A lot of predecessors did the same – Hitler, Chavez etc.. I asked you several times to prove that you are the man of peace – remember? I asked about your articles published in Arabs press but you cowardly run away. You have nothing to deliver. Just collect some miserable payment from this paper. Which is generally good BTW. Your journalistic skills are very questionable and you are not representing people who wont to make a difference in this part of the world.

Terrorists and those who support them don't have any rights...period!!!

Ray, I have always enjoyed your column in Ynet and find you to be a very intelligent and insightful person, and I wish there were more people like you.But this article was just absurd. For one thing, I think it's quite clear that the early Zionists were quite aware that there were people in what was then called Palestine. Furthermore, I think that today most Israeli's acknowledge that there are a Palestinian people and that Palestinians deserve a state. Please stop insulting us and get back to engaging in a civil dialogue.

How about trying peace for a change? People tend to forget there is a 3rd way in the middle of a blame game.

the champion of my mashooginah cousins, the Arabs. please go to the article, in this newspaper, entitled, "Haifa: Coexistance Shattered" and read talkback #8. and if my response to that talkback is there, please read that too. thanks.

the arab leaders told them to leave because they were planning to attack and destroy Israel (G-d forbid!). they were told they could return when it was over. but Israel was victorious so the arab leaders said not to return but to become refugees as part of a pr campaign to gain world pity. that's why the displaced arabs were not even allowed into their native countries. the name palestine was given to the region by the british. there were no palestinians, as such until the Jews made the desert bloom and crreated opportunities to earn a living. then all of a sudden there were "palestinians" who wanted back in. also arabs from other regions flocked to Israel for jobs and food and human rights that were simply not available to them at the hands of their own people and leaders. before that time Jews had been living there for generations alongside a few arab families. when the Jews first started the return to Israel, the Jewish homeLand, they were welcomed by the arabs living there. one Jewish family was told that before the Jews came back, the area they'd moved into had not seen rain for 30 yrs...when the Jews moved in, the rains began normally and things began to grow again. does that clear it up for you? you might want to verfify and check historical facts pertaining to this very important issue.