Do you have anything SUBSTANTIVE to contribute to this debate, as the author did - or only vapid, hollow slogans?

If there wouldn't be 'buyers, there wouldn't be 'burglars. When the MEDIA will stop to 'buy & sell 'tainted & fabricated stories, they will end. Truth & reality will again prevail. Buying stolen goods is degrading and always ends in disaster.

You pal sound to me like one of this virtual liberal brain-deads: never being in fight but has his opinion about everything. Sure, you can read, otherwise where can you get your opinion, from left press which dominate your bloody country. I can tell you one thing, and as it may sounds shocking to you: real life is quite different from your imaginary world.Try to take some Omega pills, grow some brain of yours.

Wow. What a well thought out, well presented argument. "Israel is a nation of the deluded"...is that it? Does that mean all Israelis are deceitful, or does it mean that those who don't understand life move to Israel? Im having some trouble understanding your statement and Im Canadian...r we "deluded" too?

Are you referring to the West Bank with double digit economic growth and employment? ...that West Bank...or somewhere else?

The last I checked, doctoral degrees in religion are awarded at such illustrious places as Harvard and Columbia, to name but two.

And where have you been while thousands of innocent Jews -- many of them children -- were killed in wanton acts of ersatz "Palestinian" terror? Most recently, infant Hadas Fogel and two of her siblings and her parents had their throats slit while they slept, and credit was proudly claimed by the Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigade, the military "arm" of Fatah. If Hamas would not fire mortars and missiles into Israel, they would not necessitate an Israeli response. Do keep in mind that Israel endured eight years of daily missile barrages before responding with Cast Lead. It is a fact of war that civilians die. Tens of thousands have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. The best way to avoid civilian deaths is for Hamas not to engage Israel militarily. And for Hamas not to use the civilian population of Gaza as human shields. Did you know that caching weapons in hospitals, mosques and schools turns those institutions into legitimate military targets? Israel is a sovereign state and under all precepts of international law has an absolute right to defend its population against armed aggression. Hamas, a terrorist organization ruling over non-sovereign territory, enjoys no such right. You are the hypocrite here.

Whatever bits of that you may agree or disagree with, I think the most poignant part is the bit that follows: "it highlighted Israel’s preparedness to live in peace with its neighbors and the refusal with which this has been met".

You have it backwards. Jews cannot live in Arab towns, but Arabs can, and do, live in Jewish areas. Oppression of an "occupied" people? First of all, Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria is fully legal. I remind you that Israel acquired the West Bank -- non-sovereign territory -- in the course of fighting a defensive war. Moreover, it appears that you have forgotten that Israel has had six wars thrust upon it -- the Arabs were the aggressors in each -- and in each, Israel has emerged victorious. Then, there is the matter of seven decades of unrelenting ersatz "Palestinian" terror. They should have taken the deal in 1947. They didn't; they chose to go to war instead. They lost. Lost five more times in addition. Too, too bad. But since when is that a reason to force a victorious nation to accede to the nefarious will of the vanquished? Please name one instance in recorded history when that has happened. The Allies ruled over Germany with an iron fist following Germany's defeat in World War Two. Germany lost about 25% of its pre-war territory as punishment. Italy, too, was forced to make territorial concessions -- Istria was ceded to then-Yugoslavia (present-day Croatia) as punishment. Israel has been the victor in all six wars, all of which were started by the Arabs. The West Bank is non-sovereign territory. Israel will annex it, and will repatriate its Arab residents to Jordan, country of their citizenship. To the victor, after all, go the spoils. Especially after six wars. Whether you like it or not. Deal with it.

You say NOTHING about the 1000's and 1000's of Jews and Jewish children killed by Palestinian terror?

The ersatz "Palestinians" in the West Bank are Jordanian citizens. The ersatz "Palestinians" in Gaza are Egyptian citizens. Can Mexican citizens just cross into the United States and build on any open land they feel like? Not even Canadians can do that! Go ahead, roll your eyes some more. Perhaps it will clear up your incredibly myopic vision and your short-sightedness.

a group of tourists with their eyes and minds open can see the truth but the diplomats in EU, UN, and USA who are supposed to be so smart still insist on establishing a Judenrein Arab state on historical Jewish land.

Ah, Palestinian history - do your really want to go there? You forgot to mention that Jews have had an ongoing presence in this land for 2,000 years even when they didn't have sovereignty. You conveniently left out that Jerusalem had a Jewish majority in the late 1800s and right up to 1948 (it just wasn't so important to Muslims then), and that Jews were kicked out of their homes in 1948, both in Israel and throughout the Arab world. You missed that there was a huge increase in Arab immigration to pre-state Israel that directly corresponded with the Jewish increase in immigration - the Arabs came looking for jobs as Jews began to create them. You left out that the vast majority of Palestinians cannot claim a connection to this land more than a few generations - that is an objective fact. And of course, it doesn't seem to bother you that Palestinians fire rockets, killed a family (including a baby) in their beds just a few weeks ago, or strap bombs to themselves - that's apparently all "justifiable" in your warped view. One could go on and on - but my guess is that you're not interested in the facts, just in spouting your anti-Israel propaganda. I feel sorry for you.

As hard as I've tried, I have yet to have anyone show me where Palestine or Jerusalem is mentioned in the Koran Pls. don't mention the "Furthest Mosque", that was only a days ride from Mecca, they didn't have planes and fast cars in the old days However, Israel & Jerusalem are both mentioned hundreds of times in the Hebrew & Christian Bibles, both of which pre-date the Koran

If it's Arab villages you wish to see, take a little trip to the Galilee.

You call that oppression? When has it ever been that Israel has never had the legal right to exist as a nation, who is anyone to say that Israel cannot coexist with its neighbors. The problem is with Hamas and other radical Islamic militants trying to prevent Israel from living in peace in their own land. Israel is only protecting itself, if you were surrounded by people who hated you and thought you had no right to exist, wouldn't you do everything to protect yourself, even if it means to respond with violence because you have been violently attacked? Israel although the world may condemn you every day for a so called occupation, never waver, there are some of us who are still in America and the West that support you!!

Those people are not ISRAELI citizens. Like every other nation on the planet non-citizens do not have the right to move into a country. Unlike most of the rest of the world they have the right to purchase land and apply for building permits here. Something that no Arab country allows for non-Muslims. As for teaching about 'the history of the Palestinians'. It's a real short story - it started in 1964. The first nakba was in 1920 when the local Arabs lost their Syrian citizenship. Bet an idiot like you didn't know that. Or how about the fact over 80% of the 'Palestinians' moved to the Mandate after World War II? Can you handle the truth instead Arab propaganda?

What 1000's and 1000's ? - Cut the crap and give numbers of casualties on both sides ,...

were there prior 1948. There is not single arab town or village created since than. Morover Arabs can not buy real estate in any of the major israeli cities not even rent. I know talking to you is like talking to the wall but i tried.

So tell me -- where can Jews live in Jordan? Saudi Arabia? The UAE? The supposed future state of Palestine, or for now, the PA administered areas? What happens to a Jew who buys a house in Silwan and tries to live in it?

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take ownership of Arab mistakes. How are the ersatz "Palestinians" doing with their fellow Arabs? You know, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Jordan, in Kuwait, in Oman and Muscat? In Tunisia? The fact of the matter is that the ersatz "Palestinians" were kicked out of Jordan, kicked out of Lebanon, kicked out of Tunisia, kicked out of Kuwait and kicked out of Oman and Muscat. If your fellow Arabs cannot stand you, how are the Jews supposed to feel? You know, when the Fogel family is brutally massacred, or a bus stop in Jerusalem is targeted by a bomb, or fifty-four mortars are fired in to Israel by terrorists bent on the destruction of the State of Israel? And you are wrong. There are plenty of Arab villages that have sprung up in the Galilee well past 1948. Stop lying!

I wonder, Samir, how you explain the remarkable success, progress and continuity of places like Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem, Isfiyah in the Galilee and so many others, since 1948. How many places were there, Samir, where your ancestors were neither "cleansed", nor "deported" nor all of that other nonsense that substitutes for reality. These Arab and Druze villages and towns are vibrant and have been all of this time.

of the chatrs inwith what you call"facts"

have no lifr and mumble about things you just hear about and have no clue about. The Arab towns that are atill standing is despite Israel not because of Israel. We live this reality day in and day out, don't tell us about reality here. And you ms. lunatic Sarah B. we were not kicked from any place, outside of Palestine. We were born here, it is our land, our homes, our villages, go get a life you misrable woman and don't tell us about reality in our land.

there is now a bill in the knesset that allows for "local committees" to review purchase agreements regarding allowing, or not allowing, people to move into the neighborhoods..... and my understanding is that this is not being used vis-a-visharedim.... who else then...

Dear Mr's Sarah B. At first, I appreciate very much your comments in "talkbacks". You examine with details, like a good lawyer, the opposed arguments, in order to refute its. Are you a jurist? As a magistrate, I suppose it. And as a friend of Israel, I endorse your positions with few differences. I am not yet convinced about "annex Judea and Samaria", but, for me, the Palestinian State can only be accepted too carefully, with all garantees to the security of the Jewish State. Nevertheless, I am studying more, into Public International Law, since Diaspora, including especifically the Balfour Declaration and San Remo Treaty, the precise extension of Israelian rights over Palestine; not forgeting the wars, begun by Arabian countries, and won by IDF. God bless you and your family.

It should be quite easy to settle the argument, a few answers to some rather easy questions should do it Just think, if you can answer some of the questions, you will be a pioneer, the first to do it Can you show me what the so-called "Palestinian's" are basing their claim on, they haven't be able to Have a go at it, come up with just a two or three answers in their behalf When was the country of Palestine founded and by whom? Where did the Palestinian people originate from? What were Palestine's borders? Who were its neighbors? What language did the Palestinians speak? What writing did they use? What manuscripts or records did they leave whether written or engraved? What was their religion? Where are their temples? What monuments attest to their existence? What was the name of their capital? Name its other major cities. What was their currency called? Are there any coins that attest to their economy? What was Palestine's form of government?

March 30th! Today is Buy Israeli Goods Day! Where EVER u live Buy Israeli Goods today! Be sure to thank the manager for carrying the WONDERFUL Israeli products. B.I.G. :)