Israel

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

While one cannot equate property and life, one wonders if the bulldozer incident will make the Zionists less likely to bulldoze Palestinian property as part of their land grabbing in the West Bank.  Doubtful, but one can always hope.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

As I've said, it is in the best strategic interests of Israel for there to be a State of Palestine.

Of course it is.  The very worst thing for Israel would be unified Arab state.  If that happens the only question will be how much damage will the Israel nukes inflict before the State of Israel is crushed.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I still use a rotary telephone (tough old piece of indestructible Western Electric equipment from the days when AT&T owned the phones and thus wanted to save on the cost of repairing and replacing them) that has better sound quality than the cheaply made electronic garbage available today.  However, I do agree that there is no prospect of a unified Arab state anytime soon.  The various petty dictators and monarchs of the Arab world would never willing allow it, but sooner or later there will be a second Saladin to drive out the European invaders just as the first one did.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Well, according to Obama we shouldn't be meddling in another nations affairs. Unless it's Israel, then it's ok for Obama to tell them to not build settlements.

But with the settlements, two nations are involved.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

By Israeli law all settlements, except for some neighborhoods annexed to Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, are not located in Israel.  From the Israeli official standpoint, Israel runs a military occupation regime there and the government (in Israeli-controlled areas) is under the Ministry of Defense. No attempt has ever been made to annex those areas. So, at least from the standpoint of Israeli law, these areas are not part of Israel. Do you know of any other state or official entity, that, actualy, considers these to be part of Israel?

Israel could annex these territories and make them part of Israel, at least, from its own standpoint. However, it would then have to decide, what to do w/ the native population. It could be granted Israeli citizenship and allowed to vote in Israeli elections: in which case, I believe, most of us would agree that this is now an internal affair of the wonderful and democratic Israeli state. It could keep the population as non-citizens and have it continuously disenfranchized. In that case, at least in my book, it would not be much different from the apartheid South Africa, and should be treated as such. It could also expel and/or exterminate the population, which, I would conjecture, most of those around would take as casus beli (and, likely, subject to war crimes prosecution).

Since it Israel doesn't consider it part of Israel, how about revoking the right of the settlers to vote in Israeli elections since they don't live in Israel?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

... the Palestinians were the ones who rejected the UN proposal and opted for war, attacking the newly-founded Israel state. They lost the war and thus some of the land. Then they tried to destroy Israel again in 1967 but lost again and lost more land.

So it is misleading in the sense that it suggests that Israel expanded into these territories when it was rather failed expansion attempts from the Arab side.

Israel has actually ceded land peacefully, and enormous chunks at that  (Sinai, Gaza and parts of the West Bank) something which the Palestinians have never done.

Partition became necessary in 1947 because the Zionists wouldn't accept a one-state solution, and the activities of Zionist terrorists made Britain unwilling to continue running the mandate.

Israel has never ceded land, though it has returned some of its occupied territories.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

And what would Gaza have as an export? Could they have a viable economy? Or would they end up being some third world welfare state?

What do Dubaï and Singapore have?

Dubai had enough oil to give it a jumpstart.  Singapore had a decent anchorage on a major shipping lane.  Gaza doesn't have either of those advantages.  It might have a chance if it didn't have to deal with those who moved there during the ethnic cleansing of 1948-9 and their descendants.