I have just read this thread - I avoided it until now because I was afraid it might be rather simplistic - how wrong can I get!!! Chilla, especially, you've done an amazing job of explaining this horrendously complex situation.

If I could add a couple of thoughts. The area that is now Israel, Gaza and the West Bank has been owned by many different invaders over many thousands of years. It has no single historic ownership, but it has been the homeland to the semitic peoples from whom both Israelis and Palestinians are descended. (I don't think I would take the story of Abraham too literally myself). The fact is that no-one can claim right of ownership except through possession. As others have pointed out, the State of Israel has always been under threat - I rmemeber the 6 day war well, and the reaction of most of the media and the western countries at that time was that Israel had acted justifiably in self defence. The Arab nations took a different view, particularly when Israel refused to surrender the land it had occupied.

Cuppy, the West Bank is territory on the west bank of the river Jordan . To the west, north, and south the West Bank shares borders with state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, is Jordan. Since 1967 most of the West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation.

From 1948 until 1967, the area was under Jordanian rule, but Jordan's claim was never recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom. The West Bank was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in June, 1967. Most of the residents are Arabs, although a large number of Israeli settlements have been built in the region since 1967. I believe it has a degree of autonomy, apart form East Jerusalem, which was anenexed into Israel.

One factor in all this which has not been mentioned in relation to the US is the importance of Jewish Americans demographically and economically. US politicians are constrained not only because of the "Born again christian" lobby, but also because there are over 6 million Jews in the United States - possibly as much as a third of the world's Jewish population. Although only a small percentage of the total US population, they are politically and economically a very pwoerful force.

Finally there are different parties in Israel. Yitzak Rabin was the leader assassinated in 1995, I think, not long after he had agreed the Oslo Accords and met Yasser Arafat.He was murdered by a right wing Israeli who saw his moves towards peace as dangerous.

Gosh, sorry - I have gone on rather a lot...