war in 1948. we all know that.

sure, zionism was quite unwanted, but why this war broke over this tiny piece of land is hard to explain. palestinians were most reluctant to leave their homes. they seemed even quite content with living in "israel".

indeed it may have been the feeling of "superpower", based on the new military technologies of this time, leading to the decision to go to war. egypt, the major player behind it, was sure to solve the prob in a few days - with their brand new mega fighters. the world went power-mad over their newly acquired high-tech weapons - just press the button and all your megalomaniac dreams come true.
and you were there, right in the way in 1948.

muslim, christian, and jewish as negotiators and after oslo

for christians, jerusalem is a less important site, and of course less christians voted for a muslim control. what if they were asked to have control over jerusalem by themselves? in this case, perhaps 81% of them would have endorsed. very bad and deceiving example to prove your point.

culture shapes religion and religion shapes culture

while all civilizations at some point recognized the importance of "equality", islam seems lagging behind. equality in nowadays world covers all: women, handicapped, homosexuals, nature and animals.

in some muslim countries everything unlike the healthy muslim male is inferior. so, no surprise they dont fancy jews either. this doesnt seem to hinder negotiations.

interestingly, the ones openly persecuting gays right now is again that nuisance egypt. this nasty place seems to have its claws on the trigger, whenever an inferior minority is figured out.

religion is a cultural thing in the middle east

while in europe christianity throughout history has been mostly a political institution, and may not be perceived as a real religion. judaism and islam are however equally strong in itself.

since religious ppl want to be good before their god, having an eye on the others is just normal - but its no competition. however, some ppl always fall into that competition trap - thats normal, too. and there you have your extremists. this definitely is something to overcome - easily even.

nobody has to read anyones books. apart from this, they have umpteen times "recognized" israel as a jewish neighbour state. even hamas has.

that you mini zionist thing is perceived in some remote and exotic countries as the hyper-enemy is puzzling. this seems the stronger, the further away and the more uneducated/undeveloped the places are.

how did the global/muslim perception of israel change during BN? your defence guy eisenkot just lamented that nobody responds to threats and provocation anymore. he may be wrong to think you have "won". you may have lost big time.

instead of competition and envy, ppl may be now looking down at you. this is much worse and highly irreparable.

you know what a major blow was? the mavi marmara.

this made world news and was perceived as what it was. this was one of the worst things the state of israel has ever done to themselves. and boy, how you could have positively scored on that one instead. i think, the whole muslim world was hoping at the time you would do so.

another one on the (muslim) watch plate is jordan and the embassy. and no, its not that there was an idiot in the embassy. but that there was an idiot PM and ambassador, with the pm office publishing appalling pics.

we can only hope for you, that this one is sorted out somewhat appropriately. since it was official territory, a government apology - also for the pics is in order. in fact, it would be best your prime idiot is in prison by then.

iam moslem where ever i would be but palastinian where ever i am but not on my land palastine it is a cheape price to be a jew to get a home .. it is one god the fact is islam is the last religion from the same god

None of the characters in any religious text ever existed. The offenses and perceived insults within never occurred. That the tribal hatreds are just forms of protections to rally a destroy enemies that my not even exist.

Your last sentence, Mr. Castro, and I quote: "As long as the religious legitimacy of Judaism is denied, the vast majority of Muslims will reject genuine peace and reconciliation with Israel", resumes in an eloquent way the present situation. So what's the use of starting so called "peace negotiations" when the results are known in advance?

"Land, Muslims have ruled for centuries".
Not the Romans, Turks, Brits?

"The Nakba turned hundreds of thousands of Arabs into refugees".
Not the Arab leaders telling their fellow Arabs to flee until Victory over the Jews?

"Jewish control over Jerusalem"
If not by force when was there ever Islam control over Jerusalem?

"Islam's third holy place".
Didn't that only become 'relevant when the Jews recaptured their centuries old capital?

The only reason Muslim hates Zionism is because the 'Muslim World' hates everything & everybody who thinks/is different than themselves.

There is no "Muslim world, only Muslims who cling to their hate preventing them from killing each other even more.

Some fact checking would help!

facts of life.
:Islam is a stinking totalitarian, unrelenting scourge that humanity must get itself rid of....

Clinging to the established religions, to any and all of them destroys us. Try to become different by starting something new.

Islam leaders use anti Semitism to cohese a fragmented and stupid following of Islam to remain united despite being robbed of a better standard of life on earth. heaven will be better and a reward despite what you suffer on earth that sometimes means death. does not make sense to me.

How did the Muslims take over the land of Israel, anno 635? Through purchases with notary deeds after payment, as did KKL? No: by war. The keys of Jerusalem were handed to Ibn al Hattab by the felon bishop Sophronius. Since then, their property claim relies upon a RIGHT OF CONQUEST - which they lost many times at hands of Crusaders, Mamluks, Turks, Brits, and definitely, Jews. They only succeeded to turn the land where flow milk and honey into a moonlike desert, with 194,000 inhabitants in 1835, where now 11 millions are living. If they ever succeeded in destroying Israel once more, their future would look as bright as Somalia's.

The arabs hate what what they can not dominate. They hate the Jew for their military prowess, economic success and that arab states play the jew card as ritual. A rsllying cry, we hate Jews. And, then sometimes there is no explanation. Th8nking about it Arabs hate even those they can dominate.

Muslims don't like humans, they worship the Devil and are full of hate. That's it.

being ignorant anti semites?

Freedom of choice means freedom for ignorance.

The Arab leadership and media, and their western liberal enablers constantly, and incorrectly use the terms; Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and Islamic interchangebly. With this slide of the hand they point out 700 years of Muslim control of the land of Israel, but they ignore that those 700 years of Muslim control included zero years of Arab-Muslim control. The Ottoman were Muslims, but they were not Arab Muslims. In fact they showed disdain for Arab-Muslims and frequently abused them. One of the reasons the Ottoman tolerated Jews was because their presence kept the Arabs from easily conquering Ottoman lands by maintaining a diverse population. It is unfortunate that the author of this article failed to acknowledge this falsehood that is so frequently used to confuse persons with a casual knowledge of these complicated issues.

I agree with the article that "Islamic engagement with Jewish religious texts is fundamental for Jewish human rights to be respected in the Middle East". That would be a great achievement but how do you do that?

The initial conflict between the two lineages is indeed one of succession (birthright).. Abraham's firstborn from Hagar, not his wife, was Ishmael. However, when Sarah, his wife, finally conceived Abraham bestowed the birthright to Isaac his second born.

The Israeli "peace process" with Muslims will always be mythical. Why? Because in the Koran there is a jealous hatred of Jews or the "People of the Book". The Muslims have no credibility in Jewish or Christian scriptures anyway simply because they (or Mohammed) are not listed anywhere. This puts Muslims out on a limb grasping. So instead of arguing they fight and condemn. Even brilliant countries like Iran fail to see this and want Israel's destruction only because they read about it in their Koran!
I only wish our State Dept. could also make this argument when dealing with the Middle East...

Another Muslim apologist here...India hasn't taken over Kashmir...Kashmir signed the accession documents and CHOSE to stay with us.And when in 20th century Muslims were exiled from India?We are the only country who has all 72 sects of Islam In India..I think the writer is talking about partition of India.. Well an overwhelming 80-85% Muslims demanded a new country and voted for it..My country was broken into two and Hindus were also exiled from so-called Pakistan at that time.What are you implying?When you mention Myanmar,the Rohingyas ,Bengali a speaking Muslims started a secessionist movement to join Rakahine with Bangladesh ...Much like Kashmir and joined hands with terroriste there..They provoked even the peaceful Buddhists to Buddhists..In India, the Sunjwana attacks were reikied by the Rohingyas..You call yourself a journalist, when you don't even know the History of India and call it exile ?

"During the 20th century, millions of Muslims were murdered and exiled from the Balkans, the Caucasus and India"

Do you even have any idea of the supposed "exile" of muslims from India. They carved out a nation out of India (which is now divided into two nations). So please get your facts right before writing an "article".