Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semetic, it is not criticizing Jews or Hebrews, it is criticizing a government.

And yet this 'anti-semetic' has allowed you to post your rant?

I believe he was being facetious.

No one should have a blank check. Not Israel and not the USA... no one.

I am very much Pro-Israel. Their right to exist and their right to security. But we all do wrong and the goal should be to do right more often. They captured the land post-1967 but if they want a real peace and to do right, perhaps the settlements aren't the right thing to do. That's just my impression... I've never been there and all I know is what I'm told from the Pros and Cons. A great deal of what Israel and Palestine do is not my business, but our involvement should be of concern to us... how to show support with fairness to both parties and no blank checks.

Basically, West Bank (a.k.a. Judea and Samaria) is our ancient land. Historically, we have more rights to it than to Tel-Aviv

It's a mistake to think that international law forbids occupation

they wanted to live where their ancestors had lived. Now, that, in retrospect, should have been forbidden; however, you have to understand that the Israeli border at the time was a border defined by a war boundary; there was nothing sacred in it.

Jews have always lived on both sides of it, until the very recent events... I mean, it's Judea over there! The Temple, the Western Wall, the tombs of Abraham, Isaak, Jacob, Leah, Rachel, the place where the prophets were preaching and peasants were growing their vineyards and pasturing their sheep.. are on the other side. So it was very hard to explain to someone at the time why living West of it is good, and to the East, bad.

So that's how the mess was created.. Jewish and Palestinian population got into each other's hair... now undoing it is easier said than done

want to travel ... i dont use the term palestinian because theres no such thing, they are just arabs living in isreal, are criminals they go to jail at one point or another.... they vote for a known terrorist govmt,that not only wants to wipe out isreal, but also shows hostility to all free and democratic states this thread is anti semetic and should be shut down

edisto ...according to Amnesty Internation:
Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water source in Israel and only allows Palestinian access to 20 percent

some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater

in contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensive-irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools

So, how is keeping the source of life- water- from Palestinians - Israel defending itself exactly?

i dont use the term palestinian because theres no such thing, they are just arabs living in isreal, are criminals they go to jail at one point or another.... they vote for a known terrorist govmt,that not only wants to wipe out isreal, but also shows hostility to all free and democratic states this thread is anti semetic and should be shut down

The struggle over Israel’s settlements
President Obama wants the Israelis to freeze settlement construction. Why won’t they?

Thursday, October 1, 2009
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The struggle over Israel’s settlements

Beyond the wall, settlements are still growing. (Corbis)

How did the settlements come about?
They’re the result of Israel’s victory in the Six Day War in 1967. When the Israelis drove back massed troops from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, they gained control of the Gaza Strip, which was previously controlled by Egypt, and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), which was part of Jordan. Israel soon began establishing Jewish settlements in those areas, both as military buffers against its Arab enemies and as political “facts on the ground” to solidify its hold on the disputed territories. Spearheading the settlement movement, then and now, are religious Zionists who believe in a “greater Israel” stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. Establishment of a greater Israel, they believe, will fulfill a biblical mandate, hastening the coming of the Messiah. “We build small heavens here,” says settler Arie Lipo. “We are the people of the Bible.”

Are all settlers religious?
No. Some 35 percent are secular and were drawn to the outposts for quality-of-life reasons, not theology. Israel is a tiny and crowded country, and for secular Israelis, the settlements beckon the same way American suburbs did in the 1950s and 1960s. Over the years, successive Israeli governments encouraged settlements by offering an array of housing, education, and tax subsidies and by building power and sewer lines and roads. Apartments in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement cost one-third as much as those in Jerusalem, just four miles away. Municipal worker Benny Raz moved to the Karnei Shomron settlement, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, because housing subsidies enabled him to upgrade to a spacious four-bedroom house. “I came just for a good life,” he says. “It wasn’t ideological.”

What are these communities like?
Scattered throughout the West Bank’s hilly, rocky terrain, some resemble booming suburbs, with high rises or rows of homes with red-tiled roofs. Others are rural and isolated, consisting of a couple dozen metal shacks and pre-fabricated trailers on unpaved fields, patrolled by a few wary guards. Ma’ale Adumim, the biggest settlement, is home to 30,000 Jews and boasts a large shopping mall, several schools, and a recreation center. Altogether, about 300,000 Israeli citizens now reside in 121 settlements in the West Bank, which is also home to 2.5 million Palestinians. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in new East Jerusalem neighborhoods built since Israel captured the area in 1967. Some 9,000 Israelis were living in 21 settlements in Gaza, but they were evacuated when Israel decided to unilaterally withdraw from that troubled area in 2005. (See below).

Are the settlements legal?
While most are legal under Israeli law, they are widely regarded as illegal under the Geneva Conventions, which bars the settling of civilians in occupied territory. The United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and many Western nations have declared the settlements illegal. But Israel’s government says the settlements constitute legitimate self-defense, since they keep hostile Palestinians farther away from Israel proper and thus impede military attacks and terrorist incursions.

... it confirms the fact that one can be in favor of Israel's continued existence, and yet still question or even seriously criticize its policies and actions without being thought of as a hater of Jews.

... this post is anti semetic

J Street "fills a vacuum" in the American Israel advocacy community, said Meir Sheetrit, one of several opposition members of Israel's Knesset who attended the conference. He said AIPAC's no-questions-asked support for the current right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned off younger Jews who are concerned not only about Israel but also about the rights of the Palestinians.

according to Amnesty International:

credibility of AI = 0

according to Amnesty International:

credibility of AI = 0

according to Amnesty Internation:
Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water source in Israel and only allows Palestinian access to 20 percent
some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater
in contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensive-irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools

Palestinian Arabs, as Israeli and non-Israeli geneticists have shown time and again, are genetically closer to Jews than any other group. They are not "just Arabs", that's a scientific fact.

Palestinian Arabs, as Israeli and non-Israeli geneticists have shown time and again, are genetically closer to Jews than any other group. They are not "just Arabs", that's a scientific fact.

I did my Ph.D. dissertation working with genetic analysis. I'd be interested in a peer-reviewed research article to this effect. This sounds like bushka to me. I would seriously doubt that a Jew in California (for example) is any closer genetically than his Christian neighbor. If Isreali Jews are closer to Palestinians, it's because some Jewish women are HAWT HAWT HAWT, and when your wick needs a-dippin', politics don't matter. If you don't believe me, go to the Body n Bath booth at the mall in Dover, DE, and talk to a Jewish girl selling hand cream. Man, I'd settle my willie in her occupied territories!

Saying, "Studies show," is like saying, "Yeah, I banged her". Pics or it didn't happen.

The study, published in the May 9 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Jewish men shared a common set of genetic signatures with non-Jews from the Middle East, including Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, and these signatures diverged significantly from non-Jewish men outside of this region. Consequently, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor and are more closely related to one another than to non-Jews from other areas of the world.

The authors of this study are: Dr. Ostrer from NYU School of Medicine; Michael F. Hammer, Alan J. Redd, Elizabeth T. Wood, M. Roxane Bonner, Hamdi Jarjanazil, and Tanya Karafet from the University of Arizona, Tucson; Silvana Santachlara-Benerecetti, University of Pavia, Italy; Ariella Oppenheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Mark A. Jobling, University of Leicester, England; Trefor Jenkins, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; and Batsheva Bonne-Tamar, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

The study, published in the May 9 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Jewish men shared a common set of genetic signatures with non-Jews from the Middle East, including Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, and these signatures diverged significantly from non-Jewish men outside of this region. Consequently, Jews and Arabs share a common ancestor and are more closely related to one another than to non-Jews from other areas of the world.

and would understand that "I haven't heard of it" means nothing relative to "it doesn't exist"...

That study does not support what VivaLAmore originally claimed - that palestinians were more closely related (genetically) to Jews than other arabs.

I would seriously doubt that a Jew in California (for example) is any closer genetically than his Christian neighbor.

This is a strawman. No one has claimed that "it doesn't exist". What was said was claiming that "reports show" is meaningless blather and linking to the actual studies (if they exist( and posting relevant excerpts (which has yet to be done) is the gold standard.

Saying, "Studies show," is like saying, "Yeah, I banged her". Pics or it didn't happen.