Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Is Anyone Right?

What is the real issue? The Israelis, most Jews, still contend that this is their "promised land, given them in Biblical times by their God. Whether out of guilt, or simply for logical reasons, in 1947, Israel was declare a state- a Jewish state, even though Arabs could become citizens. This action literally displaced Arabs who had lived on the land for generations. Strangely, no other Arab nation in the Middle East would accept these Arab refugees. Many of them remained, as second-class citizens (without citizenship) in the new State of Israel. The issue was (and is): who has a right to the land, to settle, build homes and shopping centers and schools and industry? And, if the answer is: The Israelis, the Arabs have a right to ask: Why only them and not us.

There have been wars, notably the Yom Kippur War of 1967, which once and for all, established the Israeli army as a force to be reckoned with. There were cessions of land: the Gaza strip for one, and the return of most of the Sinai peninsula to Egypt. But, the question of Palestinian rights remained (and remains) unsolved, and perhaps unsolvable. As various governments have flourished and then more or less disappeared in Israel- the legendary Golda Meir who was, it seems, a compassionate woman and yet a fierce defender of Israeli land rights; there was the original Israeli glamour boy- a fierce fighter and hero with only one eyes, Moshe Dayan; Menachim Begin, a former "freedom fighter" (he was one of those who blew up the King David hotel before Israel became a state), Then, a peace-seeking Rabin, followed by the right-wing Netanyahu, and now, after a more or less "care-taker" government, the hawk of Israeli hawks, the former army general, Ariel Sharon., who is seen by some as a combination George Patton and George Custer, and by some Arabs as a sort of Israeli Hitler.

Frankly, by reading current newspapers and magazines or watching cable or network news channels, for the most part we get a somewhat biased report: Fair as the media try to be, it does seem to favor the Israeli side.