[Barry the Sprout]

MagiK, this is another straw doll you have set up and managed to knock down wondrously easily. If there are any people on this board who actually are in favour of driving the Jews into the sea then I will happily join with you in arguing why the state of Israel is necessary.

However, your post demonises "the Arabs" to an extent that I simply can't agree with. What is this homogenous mass you describe, with every member hell bent on irrational destruction and murder? I don't think such a mass of people exist, personally. There are people who attack the Isreali's, although it would be a great overstatement to say they threatened the security of the state as a whole. I do not support those people, and I doubt even the most radical IW member does either. What I do support is making a distinction between the suicide bombers, members of Hizbollah and Hamas, and the ordinary Palestinian citizens.

Lets face it, the Isrealis treat the ordinary Palestinians like "lice" (as a Lebanese friend who's spent a lot of time in Isreal described it to me). Isreal is effectively an apartheid state, with the government officially sanctioning discrimination against people on racial grounds. Palestinians are regularly forced off of land or simply not allowed to move around the country due to checkpoints. Its completely unbelievable to think that checkpoints make the peace situation any better, and as Azure pointed out, its not like settlements are exactly fair under international law. The Palestinians demands are far from unreasonable: the return of the Occupied territories, the end of the apartheid system of government, and an officially recognised Palestinian state.

So just remember the next time you talk about "the Arab world" wanting the destruction of Isreal that it is a bit of a white lie really. I don't doubt that some people want that, but it would be like saying all Jews want to see the extirmination of the Arabs. Its simply not a fair description.

Davros, I personally don't think that there is anything wrong in writing something contraversial on the board to promote discussion. If it was written to deliberately annoy people however, then that is a bit different. But trying to start an argument isn't exactly all that bad in my view, as long as the argument is conducted in a civil manner. Which admittedly does sometimes get a bit difficult...