(Revised 8-1-2009)

The conflict and violence in the Mid-East will not be resolved if the world community and the United Nations continues to simply stand by and watch. There will be a never-ending cycle of retaliation after retaliation, with much more death and destruction, because both sides are led or influenced by very proud and militant "religious" zealots who are convinced they must fight and win a "holy war." 

That is not true. In fact, God does not cause or sanction war and killing. Rather, God absolutely forbids killing.

Granted, the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions foresaw and foretold that there would be all these conflicts, divisions, wars, and rumors of war. And between 1917 and 2009 as the end of this age has been drawing ever nearer, we’ve had many. But, I repeat that God was not their cause and they were not and are not sanctioned by God. The prophets merely foresaw them, and what they foresaw and foretold has essentially been fulfilled.

We will have peace when everyone realizes that all the most accurate prophets also foresaw that the time would come when judgment would be delivered, which guides you to the real truth and shows you things to come. And when that judgment is finally recognized and accepted by enough people, it will put an end to the wars by shattering the image of the false shepherds and false prophets, who claim to be Jews or Christians or Muslims even though they are driven by hate, bigotry and lust for worldly power, wealth, and domain.

That is why I tell you that it is now very important to understand the history of the Mid-East conflict ever since 1917, and also the history of American support to Israel for the last fifty years. After all, a great deal of American financial, material, military, and moral support has been provided to the Israelis ever since 1948, when the modern State of Israel was established. In fact, it could be said that without the billions of dollars per year that America has been giving and still gives to Israel, there may not have been, or may not still be, a State of Israel.

That is why Americans now need to know exactly what that support has meant, and what its impact and consequences have been to the Palestinians and other Arabs. Americans need to be more aware of the Palestinian side of the story. Then Americans will finally understand why so many Palestinians and Arabs hate or resent America, right along with Israel.

The Israeli side of the story is, of course, very different, and there are very good reasons for that as well. Israeli suffering at the hands of Palestinian warriors and terrorists is obviously the biggest part of it, but I don't need to tell you about that. Since the U.S. Government and television media is for the most part pro-Israeli, most Palestinian offenses against Israel have been well documented and widely reported by the American media. From the coverage of the war in 1967, to the Palestinian terrorist killing of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, to the Yom Kippur War in 1973, all the way to the latest Palestinian Jihadist attacks against Israel, Americans have been very informed. But, even though the American media has recently become at least a little better at telling both sides of the story, Americans are generally still not very informed about the grievances or the motivation of the Palestinians.

Of course, America has been pro-Israel because the Jewish people are very much a part of Western civilization. After all, Jewish Americans originally immigrated from Western Europe to America, and then many immigrated from Europe and America to modern Israel. Besides that, the Jewish people have contributed a great deal to Western civilization, especially in science, medicine, entertainment, comedy, music, business and merchandising. Many Jews are renowned and greatly respected and appreciated all over the world. In fact, the world is in certain respects a better place because of the greatness of the Jewish people.

However, the Israeli government has not always been so great. In fact, it is often terrible in terms of its use of deadly military force, and now we need to be fair and learn both sides of the story.

First we should know that today Palestinians are called Palestinians because their homeland had been known as Palestine for thousands of years, until 1948. That's when Palestine was taken over, broken up, and divided up between Jordan, Egypt, and the new State of Israel. When that happened, more than a million Palestinians (according to their account) were displaced and made refugees, because their land and their homes were taken away from them by the Israelis. Ever since then the dislocated Palestinian refugees have suffered in various ways, and many of the Palestinians who managed to keep their homes in Israel by becoming Israeli citizens say they don't have it too much better. They say they have been treated as second-class citizens in their own home land, and do not have rights equal to the Jewish Israelis.

By the way, this may be a terrible and cruel irony if one Israeli historian is correct. In a new book he submits that the chances that many Palestinians are descendants of the ancient Judaic people are much greater than the chances that most of the Jews now in Israel are. His studies have led him to conclude that many Israelis who immigrated from Europe and America are descendants of converts to Judaism, not descendants of Jews who’s genealogy was originally rooted in Palestine.

Anyway, as you will see, there has been a long history of dislocation, discrimination, oppression and persecution against Palestinians which goes back all the way to 1917. It expanded and got worse in 1948, and it has continued ever since, and got even worse since September 2000. Palestinian land, communities and neighborhoods have been occupied and ruled by occupying Israeli military forces. Palestinians have been incarcerated, tortured, killed and assassinated. Israelis have destroyed Palestinian homes, orchards, and other property. And Palestinians have had practically no say about it, no rights, no legal recourse. But we haven't heard much about it, and only in recent years have we started to hear and learn a little more about it.

This has astounded many people in the world, considering that the history of the Jews is one of being the victims of persecution themselves in Europe, and they were even victims of horrendously brutal treatment and mass murder at the hand of the Nazis in Germany during World War II. American Jews suffered persecution by Nazi sympathizers in America while Hitler was rising to power, and white American racists went to the extent of putting signs in their store fronts that said: "Niggers and Jews Not Allowed." Many American Jews found they had to change their last names to English-American-sounding names to avoid being discriminated against, and they did everything they could to be assimilated into American society.

However, even though most Israeli Jews are good people, it shouldn't surprise us that some people who have been persecuted become persecutors. After all, we now know that many parents become child abusers because they themselves were abused as children. Moreover, "religious" persecution is also a big part of history, and in many cases those who were persecuted become persecutors.

For example, one of America's greatest founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, commented on that in an essay on "Toleration" in which he pointed out persecution of and by Christians. He wrote: "If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The original Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Roman church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. (The Puritans) found it wrong in the Bishops (of the Church of England), but fell into the same practice themselves in New England (in America)."

The hard-line Israeli Zionists have also become persecutors. But, they, of course, don't see it that way. They feel that any and all use of armed force, and even violence, death and destruction is justified and necessary to control Palestinians and exact revenge on murderous terrorists who attack Israelis. The trouble is, the Israelis created the problem in the first place, and they have often over-reacted and gone way beyond "an eye for an eye" retaliation when attacked by those they have offended. They compound and escalate the violence. They have resorted to offensive invasions and occupation, not only of Palestinian lands, but also of their neighbor Lebanon, and they have destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure more than once. To the Israelis, a legitimate target is any location and any dwelling or any vehicle in any country that may contain a suspected terrorist. The Israeli government has acted as if any collateral damage or death of innocent men, women and children, and any destruction of homes and buildings and infrastructure, is a legitimate consequence of the war on terrorism. They either don't understand or deny that it has been their actions that have created and motivated the terrorists.

The Israelis feel they are only doing what absolutely must be done, because they feel that the return to their ancient homeland and the establishment of the modern Jewish state was the fulfillment of prophecy and their destiny. They fight to ensure it, maintain it, and even continually expand it, and they feel it is a fight that they must win at any cost.

Therefore, it is important for all of us to understand that this idea of Jewish "return" (called Zionism) stems from the a story that many of their distant Jewish ancestors were forced to leave their ancient homeland (Palestine) almost two thousand years ago in the great "Diaspora" (dispersion) beginning not long after the death of Jesus and following a crushing Roman response to a series of Jewish uprisings against Roman imperialism and occupation. That, so the story goes, was when most Jews were forced to leave Palestine and scattered to various European countries. But some Israeli scholars have recently submitted that most Jews actually remained in the area, even though they were reduced to the status of a subject people in Palestine, which would be fought over and ruled in turn by the Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Christian Crusaders, Turks, and British.

Nevertheless, the modern Zionist movement was initiated by the Rothschilds back in the 1800s, when some European Jews immigrated to Palestine. It then significantly increased in 1917, near the end of World War I, and that's when it really began to negatively affect the Palestinians. In fact, that's when certain things happened that have bothered Palestinians ever since.

In 1917 the Palestinians (the indigenous people of Palestine) fought to defeat the Turks who then occupied Palestine, as was portrayed in the great classic movie, Lawrence of Arabia. That war ended the Turkish occupation and rule, but it didn't help the Palestinians as they thought it would. You see, the Palestinians had been united under the leadership of a British officer (Lawrence), and in spite of the fact that it was the Palestinians who won the victory over the Turks, the British took the opportunity to establish their own rule over Palestine and they simply ignored Lawrence's alliance with the Palestinians. Not only that, the British then began to lend support to a very small population of Jews, most of whom had immigrated to Palestine from Europe. And in 1920 the British Government mandated specific borders for Palestine (see map).

That was a crucial turn of events, because it opened the door wide to more Jewish immigration from Europe and America, and it naturally caused the Palestinians to feel deeply betrayed. After all, it was the Palestinians who actually fought the battles and won the war against the Turks, and the Palestinians had therefore believed and rightfully expected that Palestine would naturally pass to them! They had believed that they were fighting for their homeland, and when they won it, they naturally assumed that they would be able to govern themselves and determine their own destiny. They had not expected the British to take over and rule them.

It added further insult to injury when, after the British established their own rule and jurisdiction in Palestine, they gave official recognition to the Jewish Zionist cause. That was in the Balfour Declaration, which served to legitimize the idea of creating a new Jewish State and officially allowed increased Jewish immigration. That further betrayed the Palestinians, and the betrayal didn't stop there because that declaration contained provisions that were then not honored by the British or the Israelis. In fact, that has been a continuing betrayal, because those provisions were supposed to protect Palestinian rights, stipulating that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil or religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine."

Considering that, the Palestinians understandably felt betrayed. They feel justified in their belief that the modern State of Israel is built upon a foundation that was undermined and damaged by the Israelis themselves. As the Palestinians see it, the British takeover of Palestine was unfair. They feel that the denial of the Palestinians' rightful claim to Palestine was unfair, that the Balfour Declaration was unfair, and that the Israeli treatment of Palestinians was and has been in defiance and non-compliance with the one part of that declaration intended to protect Palestinian civil rights. And they feel that the ultimate unfairness has been the continual Jewish takeover and occupation of Palestinian homes and land, which had increased since 1917, was greatly expanded in 1948 when the modern State of Israel was established, and has continued ever since.

So, the Palestinians felt betrayed first by the British, then by the Israelis, and then later by the Americans, who have funded, supported, and armed the Israelis ever since 1948. That is a significant part of the reason for Palestinian resentment, discontent, and anger toward Israel, England, and the United States.

This resentment is very understandable, especially when you consider the long range impact that British-Israeli-American actions have had on Palestinians. Their natural and justifiable claims to their homeland have been denied, and their plight has increased commensurate to the ever-increasing number of arriving Jewish immigrants ever since 1917. Hundreds of thousands of Jews immigrated from Europe and America to Palestine following the Balfour Declaration of 1917. In 1937 the Zionists organized further immigration of Jews. Another 12,000 arrived before World War II, and the tide increased until 1939, when Britain finally tried to limit the Jewish immigration and stated officially that it was not England's aim, after all, to turn Palestine into a Jewish state. But it was too late. Immigration continued anyway, illegally, and the consequence was that gradually, as more and more Jews moved in, more and more Palestinians were dislocated, removed from their homes, and forced to become refugees.

Not too much later, at the end of the World War II, Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in Germany caused pressure on Britain to allow even more Jewish immigration to Palestine. Then, to add to the pressure, the United States stepped in and strongly backed that campaign. The British tried to prevent more immigration, so Jewish Zionists launched a terror campaign in Palestine against occupying British troops. The situation became so bad that in 1947 the United Nations recommended partitioning Palestine into two separate states. That, however, triggered a civil war between the Palestinians and the Jews, and when the British finally withdrew in 1948 when the new State of Israel was established, the dispute was still unresolved and still raging.

That war has been raging sporadically ever since. But all the battles have been won militarily by the Israelis, since they have been backed and supported by American wealth and armed with modern American weapons, including jet fighter planes, helicopter gun ships, and tanks. In fact, it is because of that American support and military capability that Israelis have been able to capture a lot more land and gain military control over the whole area during the last 59 years.

For example, in 1967 a "six day war" broke out between Israel and Egypt, and soon Jordan, Syria, and Iraq were also involved. However, the Israelis were so heavily armed by that point that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity and capture all of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank in a matter of days. Then Israel turned to the Syrian front, stormed the Golan Heights, and then declared all of Jerusalem united under Israel.

Following the War of 1967, Israel gained increased U.S. foreign aid (financial and military gifts), because the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israeli lobby agencies and political action committees began their ascent to power in shaping U.S. foreign policy. The idea was that Israel was the "western pillar of strategic defense against Soviet incursion" into the Middle East --- even more justification for arming Israel to the teeth.

This caused enormous frustration for all Muslims and Arabs, especially Palestinians, and that frustration and outrage manifested in some horrible ways. In 1972 during the Munich Olympic Games, a Palestinian guerrilla group killed two Israelis and took nine hostages. This was one of the earliest signs of coming terrorist activity by those who felt they had no choice in the face of Israeli (American) military might. And this feeling only increased in 1973, after Egypt and Syria launched a military offensive to try to take back some of the Israeli land grabs, because Israeli forces quickly inflicted crushing defeats to both Egyptian and Syrian forces in what is now known as the Yom Kippur War.

Palestinians have fought back whenever and however they could. But they couldn't possibly fight conventionally against such overwhelming odds. That's why they have been so frustrated and indignant, and why some of them have resorted to (and stooped to) terrorist tactics. That is certainly not to excuse or condone it, because there is absolutely no excuse for indiscriminately killing and murdering innocent civilians and women and children. It is inexcusable and utterly despicable. However, it is a little more understandable if you understand the history and put yourself in the shoes of Palestinians. As one thwarted and captured Palestinian who had intended to be a suicide bomber has said, "After my whole family was killed by the Israelis, I only wanted to die and take as many Israelis as possible with me." While we cannot and must not condone such actions, we can at least understand how people are reduced to such a miserable, hopeless, and furious state of mind.

We should remember that in 1977, President Carter stated: "The Palestinians deserve a right to their homeland." Unfortunately, the Christian Right and the Israeli lobby countered and responded with full page ads stating: "The time has come for evangelical Christians to affirm their belief in biblical prophecy and Israel’s divine right to the land...and affirm our belief in the Promised Land to the Jewish people."

To add to that, the Reagan Administration hosted a series of seminars for the Israeli lobby and Christian Right. This was when Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Hal Lindsay and their so-called "Moral Majority" infiltrated the office of the U.S. President in violation of the intent of the founding fathers. And Falwell even received a Lear Jet from the Israeli government for his personal travel. Since then, the Christian Right has not merely defended Israelis, but also demonized Muslims, calling Islam a "wicked religion" and adding fuel to the fire.

However, certain progressive Israeli scholars and archeologists have bravely submitted that the idea of "Jewish return" to Palestine could be based on myths. For example, a new book by an Israeli historian provides evidence that may discredit the claim that Romans removed the Jewish people from Palestine during the first century and that the Jews were then scattered across Europe. The book submits that most East European Jews are probably descendants of European converts to Judaism, who were originally from eastern Russia, not from Palestine. The author submits that the Jews were never exiled en masse from Palestine and that the story claiming they were has been used by Zionists over the past century to justify Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel as the "Jews return home." As I mentioned earlier, he even goes so far as to say that the chances that the Palestinians are descendants of the ancient Judaic people are much greater than the chances that most of the Jews now in Israel are their descendants.

Granted, it is probably true that a number of Jews did flee ancient Roman persecution and scatter throughout Europe. However, apparently most of the descendants of ancient Israelites stayed in the Middle East, both in Palestine and in successful communities from Egypt to Iraq and Iran. And they really did not have many problems with regard to religion until after the State of Israel was founded in 1948, when the intrusion of European and American Jews into Islamic lands increased.

Furthermore, regarding the idea that the "right of return" is based on the books of Moses, that could be a matter of debate and interpretation. Besides that, many if not most modern Biblical scholars now conclude that Moses was not the author of the Torah. The stories attributed to Moses were probably passed down orally from the 14th Century B.C., and only much later were written down. Additionally, at least one Israeli archaeologist at Tel Aviv University has seriously called into question some of the claims attributed to Moses. But, in spite of that, Moses is still projected as a powerful image. Unfortunately, it largely ignores the dark side of that image, the theocratic, tyrannical, patriarchal, militant and even bloodthirsty side, which reveals he was only human and was not all that different from other military leaders. For example, Moses’ command for some of his people to kill three thousand others, including some or their own relatives, is ignored and not mentioned by Jews or Christians. Also ignored and not mentioned are all the "laws" and rules Moses laid down regarding food, health, women and many other subjects, which have been discredited and proven ignorant of biological and scientific facts and reality.

Of course, even some hardline Jewish Zionists concede that popular Israeli culture does regard the idea of a forced exile from the Jewish homeland (Palestine) as a myth, but they claim it is negligible in serious Jewish historical discussions, and influential groups in the Jewish nationalist movement either express reservations regarding this myth or deny it completely. Furthermore, the preamble to the Israeli Declaration of Independence states: "After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people remained faithful to it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom."

That is why we should learn and understand the truth and reality about Jewish beliefs, because some of them may not be based on the real truth. And, even if they were and are, it does not automatically give Jews the right to do what they have done and are still doing that causes harm and loss to native, indigenous Palestinian peoples.

Now, with regard to Muslim Palestinians, we should also understand the truth about Islam, because Islam’s founder, Muhammad, said that Allah was the Arab name for Jehovah or Yahweh, the same God that Jews worship, and the same God that Christians should worship.

Furthermore, even though Judaic scriptures can be interpreted to mean that the eventual return of Jewish government in Jerusalem was prophesied, the Torah and Tanach (Old Testament) does not say Jews would "return," nor does it indicate that they would or should take so much land away from native indigenous people who’s ancestors have lived there for thousands of years. But, the Torah certainly does command the Jews to not kill. It also says that pride goes before destruction and an arrogant spirit before a fall, and it is better to be of a humble spirit than to join the proud and militant in their aggressive and offensive pursuit of the "spoils" of war. All Jews and Christians should remember that, and so should Muslims, because they are all supposed to honor the advice given in the Torah and Tanach.

We should also understand that there is another reason why the plight of the Palestinians has steadily worsened over time. Since the early eighties the population of right-wing Fundamentalist Orthodox Jews in Israel has grown considerably. Some of them are as intolerant, proud and militant as the Christian Right in America, and they are particularly intolerant of and offensive toward Palestinians. To make the situation worse, while most Jews utilize reasonable family planning like most Europeans and Americans, Orthodox Jews have as many children as they possibly can. Consequently, they are quickly on their way to becoming the majority population in Israel. This does not bode well for Israel, because some Orthodox Jews are misguided zealots who tend to be proud and militant, just like many other religious bigots and hypocrites around the world. Yet, in spite of the fact that they are the most militant, they have somehow managed to become exempt from military service. So they are a very huge problem for Israel. In fact, it could be said that they are a bigger problem for Israel than the Christian Right is for America.

This is really too bad, because the former majority of Jewish people in Israel are peace-loving, good people. They are like the majority of the real Christians in the U.S. who recognize the value and necessity of a secular government and separation of church and state, and don't try to use their religion for political advantage or use the pulpit for partisan political grandstanding cloaked as "religious" righteousness. Many good Israelis are as much against the militant Israeli hardliners as they are against the militant Palestinian hardliners. They are sick and tired of war, even though most of them are too young to remember how it all started. They may not even be aware that the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is simply a continuation of what began a very long time ago.

That is why it is very important that everyone knows about Israeli offenses and Israeli "iniquity." We should all know especially about the assassins and death squads, because Israel adopted the practice of "targeted assassinations" a long time ago.

It started following the 1972 Olympics in Munich (where those 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian guerillas who’s original intent was to bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians). At that time Israel decided to not even try to have the perpetrators and conspirators arrested and tried in courts. The Israeli government instead launched a systematic campaign of assassinations of all those they judged as guilty for the Munich murders, and they managed to exact revenge no matter where the targets were in the world. They didn't stop there either. They continued the practice of targeted assassinations, killing a broad range of Palestinians judged to be enemies of Israel. This has been kept secret from the general public until fairly recently, and while some Israelis feel the practice was and is justified, it ought to horrify everyone who values true justice and the rule of law. Like the American CIA practice of assassination, it ought to be foregone and relegated to disgraceful pages of history.

Unfortunately, it is still practiced by the Israelis. In fact, the current conflict is continually escalated by retaliatory violence and killing. It's become difficult to keep track of the order, but Palestinian attacks or suicide bombings are always followed by Israeli attacks, invasions and incursions, and even by targeted assassinations and killing of Palestinians, many of which are done covertly. The Israelis under the leadership of Ariel Sharon and then Ehud Olmert and Benyamin Netanyahu have consistently and continually used a heavier hand (or iron fist), wielding disproportionate use of deadly force, thus pouring more fuel on the flames of conflict and ensured an increase in the cycle of retaliatory violence by widening the area of violence and destruction. The effect has been only to strengthen the resolve of Palestinian extremists like the leaders of Hizbollah and Hamas, and weaken and even negate the influence of Palestinian moderates.

Now, it is generally known that the Second Muslim Intifada (which means retaliatory war against oppressive persecution and military occupation) began in September 2000, when Israeli Ariel Sharon blatantly insulted Palestinians and provoked them. But, since Americans have not been informed of how unjustly and unfairly Palestinians have been treated, they should know of some notable prior examples of Israeli offenses and atrocities.

In 1953 an Israeli military unit led by Ariel Sharon was responsible for the mass slaughter of Palestinian refugee inhabitants of Qibya, a village in the then-Jordanian West Bank. In the war in 1967 Israel took even more land by force, and following that there was a particularly brutal enforcement of the Israeli occupation in Gaza, led by Sharon. Then in 1982 Sharon led an illegal military invasion and intrusion into Lebanon and was responsible for the massacre of many Palestinians, particularly in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon. These were war crimes that were ignored and allowed by the rest of the world.

Palestinian suffering due to the abuse of Israeli military power then increased over the years, and it markedly increased due to Sharon's actions before and after he became Prime Minister of Israel. Then he was responsible for many more targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders, and the bulldozing of thousands of Palestinian homes, orchards, and other property.

It should be noted that prior to that, back in June 1967, just a few hours after the Israeli military captured Jerusalem's Temple Mount, then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan visited the site and noticed that his troops had hung an Israeli flag on the top of the Al-Aqsa Muslim Shrine. Dayan told the soldiers to remove it, because he felt that it was a blatantly provocative act.

Unfortunatey, Ariel Sharon's highly publicized and very provocative act of visiting the Al-Aqsa compound in September 2000 was the final step in a process that ultimately negated Dayan's strategic legacy of trying to normalize the occupation by concealing Israel's presence. While Dayan had once said, "Don't rule them, let them lead their own lives," Sharon wanted to dominate and rule with an iron fist.

Sharon not only provoked the second Muslim Intifada against Israel, he ended the peace efforts made by all the peacemakers of the world. And since then the Israeli government has defiantly displayed their flag anywhere possible, as if thumbing their nose at Palestinians. And their tactics of enforcing the occupation got meaner and not only more deadly, but more destructive. Sharon took Israel backwards, and made things significantly worse.

For example, during the first two decades following the 1967 War, an estimated 650 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But, during the six-year period between 2001 and 2007, Israel killed more than 650 Palestinians per year. Moreover, during the first three years of the second Intifada Israel destroyed more than ten percent of Gaza's agricultural land and uprooted over 226,000 trees.

Most Americans don't know it, but, as of October 2004 (according to a report presented before the U.N. Security Council) the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis since the beginning of the Second Intifada in September 2000 to 2006 was 3,839, including nearly a thousand children, and an estimated 36,433 Palestinians had been injured. During the same time, only 979 Israelis were killed, and 6,297 were wounded. In those four years not only did Palestinians suffer four times as many deaths as Israelis, thousands of Palestinian homes had been destroyed or damaged beyond repair in the Gaza Strip. More than 120,000 parcels of Palestinian land had been confiscated for colonial Israeli expansion, "settlement" activities, occupation activities, and the construction of Sharon's imposing Segregation Wall, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian trees were uprooted in various Israeli military activities.

All this happened while America and the rest of the world simply watched and did nothing.

Another report by the BBC stated that between September 2000 and January 2005 there were 181 Palestinians killed by Israelis just in the covert, extrajudicial executions or targeted assassinations, and in the course of those assassinations 288 more Palestinians, including at least 29 children under age 18, were killed "inadvertently." And in the Summer of 2006 the violence and horrible offenses increased again, following the brutally offensive and murderous Israeli hard-line policies. Another invasion of Lebanon and the destruction of much of its infrastructure caused even more outrage, and the offenses have continued ever since.

Of course, Palestinian extremists and murderers are just as wrong. There is no excuse for the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilian children, women and men. But, it is Israel's offenses and disproportionate use of deadly force and destruction that are the most outrageous and inflaming. That is what fueled the backing, support and activities of Hamas and Hizbollah, which are dedicated to fighting Israeli incursions, offenses and military occupation.

Adding more fuel to fire have been right-wing American "Christian" Zionists, most of whom are leaders of the Christian Right like Pat Robertson and John Hagee, who in November 2007 claimed: "Israel was re-born by an act of God and Israel lives! The Jews have suffered great persecution and survived slavery and the [Nazi] Final Solution! God Jehovah will bury Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran! The flag of Israel will fly over the undivided Jerusalem and be the praise of all the earth! It's 1938 again and the new Hitler is Ahmadinejad! Radical Islamicists are threatening to develop nuclear weapons in order to destroy Israel and then the USA! But we are indivisible and we are both here forever!"

Adding even more fuel to the fire are militant Israeli hardliners. On July 5, 2009, The Times of London reported that the head of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the Saudi kingdom during any future Israeli bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Therefore, as I see it, American "Christian Zionists" like Robertson and Hagee are bigoted hatemongers and warmongers, and they are just as bad as bigoted, militant Jewish Zionists and bigoted, militant Muslim extremists. They are all wrong in causing so much hate and unnecessary death and destruction, even though they all have legitimate grievances against their enemies.

In December 2008 we saw more of the insanity, with Hamas forces in Gaza killing a few Israelis with mortar and rocket attacks, and Israel retaliating absurdly and disproportionately with massive fire power, killing hundreds of innocent people in Gaza and causing terror and horrendous destruction. Then the Israeli government invaded Gaza and prevented journalists from showing and telling the world what was happening, because they have indulged in the same war crimes they did when they invaded Lebanon, not only causing horribly unnecessary and disproportionate death and destruction. It made me sick, literally sick, and I grieve and mourn for all those on both sides who were killed and are affected by the violence and destruction. I can only pray that enough Israelis will realize that trying to rule with an iron fist and pound their enemies into submission is just stupid, foolish and counterproductive, and that they must repent and make amends in order to make peace.

After all, we now know that the testimony by Israel’s own soldiers confirm what people in the Gaza Strip had charged, that Israel's assault on Gaza perpetrated terrible violations of international law. Of course, Hamas's indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians were also war crimes, but they do not excuse Israel's far worse war crimes. The evidence reveals that Israel violates international law and its duty to protect the civilian population of the Gaza Strip by: (1) imposing forceful military occupation; (2) using military firepower against a people it is legally bound to protect; (3) imposing collective punishment in the form of a blockade (in violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention) which imposed harmful restrictions on trade and movement and forced families into poverty, children into malnutrition, and denied patients access to medical treatment; (4) deliberately attacking civilian targets, destroying or damaging thousands of houses, mosques, hospitals, factories, schools, a key sewage plant, institutions like the parliament, the main ministries, the central prison and police stations; (5) killing civilians without military justification (according to the United Nations, of 1,434 Palestinians killed in the Gaza invasion, 960 were civilians, including 121 women and 288 children); (6) deliberately employing extremely disproportionate military force; and (7) illegal use of weapons, including illegal white phosphorus. Israeli political and military personnel who planned, ordered or executed these offenses and violations of international law should face criminal prosecution, because if and when we allow any nation to violate it with impunity, respect for international law is diminished, and cruel, arrogant nations are strengthened and enabled.

More recently we have learned that prominent Israeli journalists have been arrested by Israeli authorities upon re-entering Israel from Gaza. The Israeli government forbids journalists to enter Gaza, because they don’t want Israelis to learn the truth. Rather, the Israeli government and military want to suppress knowledge and publicity of their own indefensible actions, to prevent Israelis from knowing the facts about the impact of the Israeli army’s brutality and cruelty in Gaza, or in the settlements on the West Bank. The Israeli government and military go to great lengths to control what Israelis see and hear, and this has been going on for decades. They have succeeded to the extent that the word Palestinian is nearly synonymous with the word terrorist, and any dissent or resistance to Israeli military occupation and expansionism is labeled as irrational, unprovoked, inhuman terrorism. Their goal is to spin the message so that the oppressed are seen as oppressors, the culprits are seen as victims, illegal military action and occupation is seen as cultural liberation, aggressive expansion and colonization is seen as righteous reclamation, genocide as self-defense, apartheid as security, and ethnic cleansing as peace-keeping. It’s not just a sad state of affairs. It’s horrifying.

On June 16, 2009, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a good servant of God, visited Gaza and said that he was almost brought to tears by what he saw. He said that he felt some responsibility because the American International School, one of many destroyed by the Israelis, had been "deliberately destroyed by bombs from F-16s made in my country." He added that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were being treated "more like animals than human beings." God bless Jimmy, because he is a true humanitarian, as we all should be.

As the late great Martin Luther King Jr. said: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness, in a descending spiral of destruction."

Granted, there is nothing wrong with there being a State of Israel. It should have its place. However, it should be in a smaller, limited space. Furthermore, the growing number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and elsewhere should be relinquished and simply given to the Palestinian Authority to house needy Palestinian refugees. That would now only be fair, and right. After all, the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been described as "having no legal validity" by the United Nations Security Council in resolutions 446, 452, 465 and 471. These resolutions were made under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter. But, even though the International Court of Justice has interpreted that all U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, neither the resolutions or the court has any enforcement mechanisms, so Israel has simply ignored the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and world opinion.

The trouble is, the U.S. created a greedy bully in the State of Israel with all the financial and military support of the Israeli government since 1948, pouring in billions of dollars a year so Israel could create and maintain superior military power and abuse it horribly in a myriad of ways. That has been and still is the problem. And it will be a problem until the people of the world finally say, "Enough!"

Furthermore, while President Obama has said: "We will always support Israel’s right to defend itself," he should qualify that. All Americans should realize that unconditional support for Israel from America is not what the rest of the world wants. It has enabled Israel’s iniquity, and it is terribly unfair.

Obama should say this: We will support Israel’s right to defend itself appropriately. However, the U.S. should not support any more inappropriate and disproportionate retaliation by Israel against the Palestinians, nor will we excuse any more military incursions or bombardments of Gaza, wreaking terrible terror and destruction and using illegal weapons like white phosphorus. That was unacceptable and inexcusable, as was their previous incursions and bombardments of Lebanon. Furthermore, the U.S. Government should no longer provide financial or military support to the State of Israel, and I will try to ensure that we do not.

Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen, because the number of special interest groups, political action committees and lobbyist groups whose sole mission is to further the cause of Zionism and keep the financial and military assistance flowing from the U.S. to Israel has increased. Another one was founded on July 6, 2009, called "Z Street," which apparently means "The Road to Zion." It was founded to counter and fight more moderate Jewish organizations, like Americans for Peace Now, and J Street, a moderate Jewish American advocacy group. Z Street founders accuse J Street of "treason" because J Street was founded to promote diplomacy, peace and security.

There are many other right-wing extremist Zionist groups, including the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA); the pro-Israeli front group Stand With Us; the American Israel Education Foundation; and The Israel Project (TIP). However; the vast majority of pro-Israel Lobbyist groups and Political Action Committees (PACs) have misleading or non-descriptive names. And apparently there are a large network of other PACs, most of them originally established in the early 1980s in their home cities by members of AIPAC’s board of directors.

Now, I wonder why that is. After all, a significantly large number of Jewish people in the West and even in Israel are not Zionists, but in fact oppose Zionism. Many Zionists are not even Jewish, and many are secularists. Many are members of what I call the U.S. Religious Military Industrial Complex — businessmen, oil company executives, bankers, financiers, and speculators. In fact, there's a whole lot of money backing Zionism. Could it be that it is about more than just a "Jewish Homeland"?

Whatever the case, Americans need to realize that the Palestinians deserve to have their grievances redressed, and the U.N. needs to step in to stop the madness and violence, and establish justice. Moreover, the people of the world need to ensure that Israel makes amends and provides adequate compensation to the Palestinians who have had so much taken away from them.

When the Palestinians and other Muslims and Arabs know that the United Nations will act to stop the overt and covert Israeli aggression and violence, establish a Palestinian State of ample size, establish land reform and property rights for Palestinians, establish social justice, and bring Israeli war criminals to justice, it will greatly reduce support for militant members of Hamas and Hizbollah. Reasonable Palestinians and other good Muslims will begin to shun the so-called "Jihadist" hatemongers and warmongers who have committed indiscriminate mass murder. That will open the door for covert U.N. forces, including the best intelligence operatives from all participating nations, to be better able to identify, deal with, and bring the criminal terrorist guerilla leaders and their die-hard followers to justice.

As the wisest military leaders have been saying for many decades, you cannot defeat or get rid of guerilla fighters who have the support of the people. Bombing does not work. Conventional warfare does not work. Any peoples who are unfairly treated, displaced and feel oppressed, especially by occupying military forces, will always support guerilla fighters who are on their side. So we, the rest of the people in the world, must be on their side and against the abuse of power by the government of Israel, even as we are against terrorists who commit indiscriminate mass murder. We must assert that two wrongs do not make a right, and we must stop the wrong.

The only way to resolve the conflict and deal with the problem will be with reconciliation, compromise, administration of justice, and making amends. Otherwise, the proud, militant hardline leaders on all sides will keep fighting to the death, and taking a whole lot of innocent people with them.