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They won't want to - they feel they have an intrinsic inalienable right to occupy that bit of land. Sadly for them others don't share that view, though clearly the Powers at the end of the 2nd world war did, or at least were prepared to go along with it as a measure of compensation for what had happened in Germany.

In any case, where is there any suitable land that nobody has a claim to?

The world should chip in and make them an island someplace to their liking.

How's this for a simplistic view of the situation between Israel and Gaza:

A large dog sits calmly in it's own yard, minding it's own business. A teenager chooses to taunt the dog each day as he passes by. One day he throws a stone, the next he pokes with a stick. As time goes on the teen grows bolder and crosses into the dog's property and harms the puppy that is also in the yard then yanks the dogs tail as he retreats.

Of course the large dog sounds the caution alarm by yelping, growling, snarling and even jumping and snapping. All done to no avail as the teen chooses to ignore the fact the dog is becoming angry and frustrated with this behavior.

Finally the day arises when the teen comes to the dog's yard. Stomps on the pup. Punches the dog. And just then.....

The dog attacks the teen.

As per usual the teen then screams for help. Blame is laid on the dog all the while no attention is paid to the behavior of the teen or the dog that led up to the "unfortunate", "unforseable", and totally "unacceptable" attack.

Bad dog.

This metaphor is grossly over-simplified. WHY does the teenager behave thus? If it's one teenager then physically restraining him may well solve the problem, but what if it's a whole neighbourhood of teenagers? How do you stop them? The answer (in this metaphor) is that you educate the teenagers so they no longer WANT to taunt the dogs.

But let's look at an extension of your metaphor. Suppose there's a piece of open land that the local teenagers have used for years as a playground. No-one knows who owns it, and it's really irrelevant - for all practical purposes it's public open land. And it's the only open land for miles around.

Then someone comes along, puts up a fence, puts fierce guard dogs in there, and a sign saying "keep out". The teenagers now have nowhere to play so start breaking down the fence. To defend themselves from the vicious dogs they throw stones at them to try to intimidate them.

Do you honestly think that Israel's current actions in Gaza, even if totally justified, have any likelihood of stopping the conflict there? As I said earlier, that sort of petty revenge is fine at a human level and is the result of anger, but it doesn't actually achieve anything. At a state level it's incomprehensible why it would be done, since it CAN'T work the way that state wants, and it's going to be TOTALLY counter-productive.

I'm trying to analyse the situation to understand what motivates the different people involved. Not so I can declare who's right and who's wrong, because that is a childish and pointless thing to do, but so I can maybe see a way to solve the problem. The Arabs aren't going to go away, much as the Jews might like that to happen, and unless some way of peacefully cohabiting can be found the conflict will continue ad infinitem, and will probably escalate.

Why on earth was it necessary to create Israel there, right next to people who have over eons been opposed to Judaism? This conflict was always going to happen, and IMO it will never end unless the Jews stop being so exclusive in their approach to others. Or maybe we've already gone too far for that, in which case God help us all.

There you go again, as much as admitting that being spurned by a woman who just happened to be Jewish has resulted in your life long hatred of Jews. Very ugly, dude.

You also have yet, in this protracted rant, to say that Hamas has to do anything. You won't even call for them to stop shooting the missles that have caused this.

I'm reminded of an old thought experiment a friend brought to my attention some years ago.

In the first scenario, Palestine dumps all its weapons into the ocean. What happens? Peace! The wall (which so many people love to complain about) comes down. There is no retaliation for acts of terrorism on Israel's side, because there's no more terrorism. No more women and children die because there are no more rockets to both hide and fire amongst the civilian population. The "humanitarian disaster" ends in Gaza.

In the second scenario, Israel dumps all its weapons into the ocean…………

It's a useful exercise in terms of recognizing who the troublemakers really are, who resists peace, and who keeps the cycle of hatred and violence spinning.

My pro-Israeli stance has nothing to do with religion (as is the case for some Christians) and everything to do with good 'ole fashioned common sense, coupled with a sense of justice.

And for the life of me, I can't quite figure out if you are really this naive, or if you just want to see Israel destroyed.

There are so many non sequiturs here I don't know where to start. I don't think I'll bother. I'll just repeat that it has NEVER been found that military action against guerrillas is effective. Only reason and talking works, and for that to happen intransigent attitudes have to go. In this case that's both Palestinian and Israeli. Oh, and that "peace" is not just the absence of war, and all the scenario above would achieve is to disarm one side. Relative peace for a while, certainly, but what then?

And where do you get "my lifelong hatred of Jews" from? If you only knew how silly and off target that was.

Peter, it was necessary to create Israel there because that is what the powerful Jews wanted. They wanted that before WW 1 and was not delivered and so on to WW 2. Israel is a spoil of war and has fueled the famous military-industrial complex which has sucked the world's endeavors dry. Look at this big picture, what does Israel produce or make to pay for their armies and everything else that goes with a modern society. How do they do it money wise? There there so to have a reason for war and all the energy that goes with that waste. Such a shame.

Well, they do produce very good citrus fruit. In England I always seek out Jaffa oranges. I don't know what else though - perhaps someone here knows.

They manufacture and sell weapons

Yes of course - the Uzi. Anything else?