Let's take a look at Israel as compared to the rest of the world.
http://www.masada2000.org/geography.html





a. 3 miles wide here
b. Golan Heights
c. Sea of Galilee
d. Jordan River... Sea of Galilee
to Dead Sea
e. 1967 "Green Line"... the 1949
armistice lines separating
Israel from its heartland of
Judea-Samaria when Jordanian
forces illegally annexed it. After the
1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel
regained that land... at which time
the world began referring to Judea and
Samaria as the "West Bank" in order to
try to erase any Jewish connection
to this historically Jewish land!
f. 9 miles wide here
g. Tel Aviv
h. Jerusalem
i. Dead Sea
j. Gaza Strip: 5 miles x 25 miles The surrounding 22 Arab countries are 640 times larger than tiny Israel yet they expect Israel to turn over all the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and half of Jerusalem... territory they lost after they started the 1967 war!


Unlike Islam's Koran, which commands Muslims to force the entire planet to submit to literal control by Islam, the Jewish Torah promises the children of Israel a modest and reasonable allotment of land. Israel in RED , is a democratic nation 1/19th the size of California, surrounded by 22 hostile Arab/Islamic dictatorships with 640 times her size, 60 times her population and ALL the oil. How dare Arab propagandists call Israel "expansionist!" And how dare anyone believe them! How can Israel, which occupies one-sixth of one percent of the lands called Arab, be responsible for the political dissatisfaction of 22 Arab countries? How can the 13 million Jews in the world (almost 5 million fewer than they were in 1939!) be blamed for the problems of the 300 million Arabs, who have brotherly ties to 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide? Israel is an oasis of Western Democracy and Judeo/Christian morality in the middle of an otherwise totalitarian Arab/Muslim Middle East. For over 55 years since she became a nation in 1948, Israel has sought peaceful coexistence with neighbors dedicated to her destruction. Thus far only Egypt and Jordan have formalized a peace treaty. In reality, these two peace treaties are are questionable.

The Arab assaults and aggressions against Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1968, and 1973 had nothing to do with Palestinians. The Palestinian terror campaign would itself be easy to suppress today and eradicate if the Middle East conflict were really a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel would simply obliterate the terrorists and expel their supporters to Syria and Lebanon. The Middle East war continues because it is really an Arab-Israeli war, not an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is also in large part a war between barbarism and civilization. In many ways an Islamic religious jihad against the Jews.

Pretty interesting huh... Such a small country.. .holding it's own in the Middle East.

Missileer
Well done post ... it lays out the reason for the unrest in the Middle East in just a few well chosen paragraphs and points out why the 'fix' isn't going to be as easy as the handwringers and peaceniks believe.

However, standby - you are about to be over-run by the naysayers , betcha ...........betcha ...........betcha ...........

i'm just saying you're oversimplifying it. Let's not forget the diplomatic problems which started with the british mandate and the subsequent partition after they left. Try figuring out what the hell was going on there to check why this whole thing started and hasn't ended.

How it started? I believe I already posted that in this forums at least once, but one more time won't hurt anything. British Mandate leaves approximately 55% of the territory to the Israeli's and 45% to the Palestinians, the Israeli's accept this agreement, the Palestinians and Arabs reject it, day after british leave the Arabs attack Israel, outnumbered ten to one Israel counter-attacks and defeats the invading Arabs, in the subsequent peace agreement the Israeli's redraw the lines of the British Mandate giving Israel 70% of the land of Palestine, the Arabs accept, Palestinians CHOOSE to leave believing that the Arabs will regroup and destroy Israel, 50 years later Israel still stands and now the Palestinians have realized that the Arabs won't defeat Israel. Oh of course there was a certain terrorist named Yasser Arafat who bottled things up in the Middle East for some 30 odd years, constantly throwing a wrench in the machine everytime the Israeli's and Palestinians were on the verge of a peace settlement. His death should have meant peace in Israel but apparently Arafat wasn't the only one who won't accept any peace settlement that involves an independent Israel.

Missileer,there should be one update in the map. That is "Irag",its territory is becoming "red", not "green" at least. If Syria is involved in the coming feature, We can see that the configuration would be the best that the U.S wants to get.

Although surronded by arabic nations in the same "green", Israel looks so small. But arabic world is not far united than they look like,or Israel would have much harder time. There are many underground factors that can not be justified from these simple data.

I love an underdog story and Israel is like the Rocky of the Mid East.

The best way to help Israel is investing in Palestina,not selling arms to Israel.

Originally Posted by sandy

The best way to help Israel is investing in Palestina,not selling arms to Israel.

So, you want to prop up a recognized terrorist run country and starve the only democratic State in the Mid East. Sounds like a sound philosophy, for Iran.

Originally Posted by WarMachine

"i'm just saying you're oversimplifying it. Let's not forget the diplomatic problems which started with the british mandate and the subsequent partition after they left. Try figuring out what the hell was going on there to check why this whole thing started and hasn't ended."

It's not going to do either of us any good if you don't read what the British mandate was and what became of it. The Arabs refused any of their plans as to partitioning the land. The British realized that the Arabs wanted all of the land so they gave up and dumped the whole mess in the UN's lap. Their map is shown below and you can read what the Arabs thought of the UN below. I have color coded parts of the British efforts and the attitude of the Arab countries. Therein you will read why this started and will not end.

"Israel first became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam! Seven hundred and twenty-six years later in 586 B.C.E. these first ancient Jews in the Land of Israel [Judea] were overrun and Israel's First Jewish Temple (on Jerusalem's Old City Temple Mount) was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of ancient Babylon. Many of the Jews were killed or expelled; however many were allowed to remain. These Jews along with their progeny and other Jews who would resettle over the next 500 years, rebuilt the Nation of Israel and also a Second Temple in Jerusalem upon the Temple Mount. Thus the claim that Jews suddenly appeared fifty years ago right after the Holocaust and drove out the Arabs is preposterous!"


"From 1517-1917 Turkey's Ottoman Empire controlled a vast Arab empire, a portion of which is today Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. During World War I (1914-191, Turkey supported Germany. When Germany was defeated, so were the Turks. In 1916 control of the southern portion of their Ottoman Empire was "mandated" to France and Britain under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Arab region into zones of influence. Lebanon and Syria were assigned (mandated) to France... and "Palestine" (today's Jordan, Israel and "West Bank") was mandated to Great Britain."


"Because no other peoples had ever established a national homeland in "Palestine" since the Jews had done it 2,000 years before, the British "looked favorably" upon the creation of a Jewish National Homeland throughout ALL of Palestine. The Jews had already begun mass immigration into Palestine in the 1880's in an effort to rid the land of swamps and malaria and prepare for the rebirth of Israel. This Jewish effort to revitalize the land attracted an equally large immigration of Arabs from neighboring areas who were drawn by employment opportunities and healthier living conditions. There was never any attempt to "rid" the area of what few Arabs there or those Arab masses that immigrated into this area along with the Jews!"

"In 1923, the British divided the "Palestine" portion of the Ottoman Empire into two administrative districts. Jews would be permitted only west of the Jordan river. In effect, the British had "chopped off" 75% of the originally proposed Jewish Palestinian homeland to form an Arab Palestinian nation called Trans-Jordan (meaning "across the Jordan River"). This territory east of the Jordan River was given to Emir Abdullah (from Hejaz, now Saudi Arabia) who was not even an Arab-"Palestinian!" This portion of Palestine was renamed Trans-Jordan. Trans-Jordan and would again be renamed "Jordan" in 1946. In other words, the eastern 3/4 of Palestine would be renamed TWICE, in effect, erasing all connection to the name "Palestine!" However, the bottom line is that the Palestinian Arabs had THEIR "Arab Palestinian" homeland. The remaining 25% of Palestine (now WEST of the Jordan River) was to be the Jewish Palestinian homeland. However, sharing was not part of the Arab psychological makeup then nor now."



"Encouraged and incited by growing Arab nationalism throughout the Middle East, the Arabs of that small remaining Palestinian territory west of the Jordan River launched never-ending murderous attacks upon the Jewish Palestinians in an effort to drive them out. Most terrifying were the Hebron massacres of 1929 and later during the 1936-39 "Arab Revolt." The British at first tried to maintain order but soon (due to the large oil deposits being discovered throughout the Arab Middle East) turned a blind eye. It became painfully clear to the Palestinian Jews that they must fight the Arabs AND drive out the British."


The Palestinian Jews were forced to form an organized defense against the Arabs Palestinians.... thus was formed the Hagana, the beginnings of the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF]. There was also a Jewish underground called the Irgun led by Menachem Begin (who later became Prime Minister of Israel). Besides fighting the Arabs, the Irgun was instrumental in driving out the pro-Arab British.

Finally in 1947 the British had enough and turned the Palestine matter over to the United Nations.
The 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 partition plan was to divide the remaining 25% of Palestine into a Jewish Palestinian State and a SECOND Arab Palestinian State (Trans-Jordan being the first) based upon population concentrations. The Jewish Palestinians accepted... the Arab Palestinians rejected. The Arabs still wanted ALL of Palestine... both east AND west of the Jordan River.


"OnMay 14, 1948 the "Palestinian" Jews finally declared their own State of Israel and became "Israelis." On the next day, seven neighboring Arab armies... Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen... invaded Israel. Most of the Arabs living within the boundaries of the newly declared "ISRAEL" were encouraged to leave by the invading Arab armies to facilitate the slaughter of the Jews and were promised to be given all Jewish property after the victorious Arab armies won the war. The truth is that 70% of the Arab Palestinians who left in 1948 – perhaps 300,000 to 400,000 of them – never saw an Israeli soldier! They did not flee because they feared Jewish thugs, but because of a rational and reasonable calculus: the Jews will be exterminated; we will get out of the way while that messy and dangerous business goes forward, and we will return afterwards to reclaim our homes, and to inherit those nice Jewish properties as well. They guessed wrong; and the Arab Palestinians are still tortured by the residual shame of their flight. Their shame is so great because in their eyes running from Jews was like running from women. So much for the blatant lie about Jews throwing out all the [Palestinian] Arabs!"

So, you want to prop up a recognized terrorist run country and starve the only democratic State in the Mid East. Sounds like a sound philosophy, for Iran.

No,no.
I said,make palestinian people rich and bring foundation of terrorism to naughty.
By the way, conflict is in Palestine which continues.
Funds of the ODA year of 100,000,000 dollars Japanese Government pays are provided for towns and villages in Palestine as urgent expense for measures for the unemployed via UNDP.
By the money, about Palestinian 200,000 people is employed a year, and repairing houses destroyed by IDF and forestation destroyed olive fields.
These days,I feel.
The more america critisize Iran, the more Iran's hard core gets power in senate.
Thanks to American policy,now Iranians go to old guard.