before 1967 they were very happily Jordanian with full citizenship and representation in Jordan’s parliament.  There were absolutely no demonstrations or Intefada’s against it.  Why would you think this has changed?  You do realise that the majority of the Jordanian population is Palestinian?  Compared to the uncertainty and the oppressive nature of rule by terror, the relative democracy of returning to Jordanian rule, not to mention work opportunities and social benefits,  would have to be a blessing.

Chaim, I have indicated no desire to separate Arabs and Jews.  The Arab population of Israel in my books is there to stay … though there is a separation in that Arabs and Jews do live very separate lives in Israel.

My major problem with your position is its denial of that very basic right of self-determination.  It gives Israel the right to retain its Jewish character, without having to take other cultures on board.  The issue isn’t one of the practicality of simply being Jewish in another Arab country, which you would find acceptable, but the basic right to forge your own destiny, advance your own culture as a national entity that is guaranteed as an integral right in this world … well, as Ariel points out, to everybody but Jews.  Umpteen Christian and Mulim nations in the world, but the sticking point seems to be one Jewish nation.

The idea of people in Israel with no citizenship at all being denied Israeli citizenship is a non-starter for a whole bunch of reasons including Israeli ethics and the Declaration of Independence.  It is so clearly different to your situation.  As you say, you are an Australian living in America.  A parallel to what you are suggesting would be somebody born in America but denied American citizenship, perhaps because their grandparents happen to be Mexican, or Black. As a concept, it is racist in the extreme.

“Voting and a western type democracy for all” is necessary and is a right, because the people of the democracy known as Israel want it so, and would have it no other way.

It is this denial of Jewish rights which snowballs on to everything else. You are not going to convince Joe Bloggs on the right of Israel to exist  based on its status as a Western country which contributes immensely to the world, etc., if Joe doesn’t believe Jews have the right to a state in the first place. People have bought the lie that Jews are colonialists from Europe  who came and conquered Palestine in the 20th centurty from its indigenous population, whom Arafat claimed were decendents of the Caananites.

We must make it clear – no matter one’s political viewpoints on how to solve the conflict – that Israel is the Jewish homeland and we are entiled to it as much as the Chinese People are entitled to China and the Japanese to Japan. We must encourage people to read history books and not newspapers to get the facts. I know this is tough in the modern world of immediate gratification and acquirement of knowledge (the man who went to Shammai and Hillel and asked to be taught Torah “on one leg”), but it must be done.

Yes the land is (largely) legally Jewish/Israeli, but the people residing on it are not, and the days of enforced population shifts are long gone.   It’s a time of compromise.  At this point the only solution I can see to the problem is dividing the West Bank approximately along the fence line (because of the geography, 98% of the Arab population currently lives on one side of the fence).  Whatever Jewish titled land can also be incorporated should be, whether from Gaza or from the West Bank.  A tunnel should be built under the Negev joining the two, and the Arab populated areas should revert to Jordan, who should be encouraged (monetarily and with the promise of a major port on the Mediterranean … something very desirable) to accept it.  Jordan will face the problem of getting rid of the terrorist overlay with help from the rest of the world, but ultimately, peace would be the result, with a Palestinian population actively pursuing their own destiny amongst their own.  In all the years, even prior to 1967, Jordan has ensured that no terrorists operate across its border with Israel.  I think it can be trusted to keep the peace.  Possibly not everyone’s ideal solution, but the best compromise I can come up with to resolve the impasse.  This is based on the sustainable argument that outside of a handful of academics, nobody in the Palestinian camp is really looking for an independent state.  It is a concept that was adopted only because it appealed to the West (Hamas, for example,  has made it quite clear that should a Palestinian state be achieved, they would dismantle it along with all the other states of the Middle East in favour of an amorphous super state, the Umma, run by a Caliphate).