Why would they? Just because the Israeli's share a religion?
... and a language, and culture... isn't that enough for people to exist as a country? It is sufficient for other countries in the world, as far as I know. In addition to which:
There was vote and the rest of the world decided on Israel's foundation.
So yeah, we have the right to exist by law.
Exactly. Israel exists by law, not just due to "an ancient book". Is this not a valid right for existence?
Palestina?
It, too, exists. And as far as I can see no-one here questioned its right to do so.
The deaths of innocent people is what sticks in my throat.Awful.
There have been deaths of innocent people on both sides, and yes, this is awful.
Israelis always act like the victims for everything. The reason why arabs and palestinian's hate you is because the people who lived in israel before you were kicked out of their homes for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I work in a mall and at my mall there are Israelis who work at a kiosk selling lotion and while they're fairly nice people, they are still arrogant and pretentious beyond belief. Their opinions were all the same. "We're the victims, feel bad for us.".
Pretending to be victims... I'm sorry, but in my experience it's usually the other way around. At least down here, the newspaper tends to be quite one-sided about the situation. They tend to concentrate on the way Israel retailiates after being attacked, rather than on the fact that they were attacked first, and so had to defend themselves (and I beleive a contry has the right to defend itself when, for example, it is being bombed by missiles). Innocent Israeli citizens die too, but this tends to be ignored/talked down. For example, back when I lived in Israel there were suicide bombers blowing themselves up in shopping centres and buses, so Israeli citizens are also victims of this conflict.
As to who was there before whom... that is not such an easy question, depends how far into history you look. In addition to which, as Alexis said:
As far as I see, the reasoning given for invalidity of Israel's claim to exist are that 1) We were here first (Palestinians), 2) It's a false country, set up by political partition, ignoring native and cultural issues on the ground at the time.
Either or both may or may not be true, but if they are used as grounds to deny Israel's existence, then I can't think offhand of any country that is exempt from similar claims of invalid political existence. Native Americans, Druid Dudes of the British Isles, (Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland? ... claiming ignorance here as to whether that is even a good example), Aborigines down under ... they may all have as legitimate a claim to the lands that were once theirs, and were taken by force and usually pretty ugly behavior besides.
I agree. Different countries/nations have been fighting and conquering each other in the past, and the result is the countries that we have now. I reckon at some point you've got to put a freeze on the "border re-drawing" activity.
I really hope the conflict gets resolved and that Israelis and Palestinians can coexist side by side.
Sorry about the long post you guys. No offence at all intended to any member.