Becky, you do not have to resort to condescension just because we disagree. I actually own many history books on the subject of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Most of these books were written by widely respected Israeli historians, such as Tom Segev and Benny Morris. I have also taken a semester of Middle East history at Cabrillo College and received an A. I have interviewed many professors on my radio program, for example Jeff Halper, an Israeli and Joel Beinin, professor of Middle East history at Stanford, an American Jew.

You refer to some things that I actually said on my radio show, not at the event. But you got them wrong. What I said was that roughly 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were driven out of Palestine in 1948. I stated that they did not leave because their leaders called on them to leave, which is a myth that has been proven false, even by Israeli historians. I then said that most of them fled the fighting, but that many left because they were forced out by Jewish terrorist organizations who perpetrated massacres and then broadcast them to the Palestinian populace, in an effort to frighten them into leaving. Don't take my word for it. Benny Morris has researched it. You can get his books at the main library. When I said Palestine, I refer to what the area was called at the time. Even today, many Israeli historians refer to the area as modern Palestine. It is actually predominantly Israeli historians who have exploded the myths around the creation of Israel. The David and Goliath fight myth has been totally debunked. Actually the Israeli armies were better organized and stronger than their invading neighbors in 1948. The Arab nations were at odds with each other and failed because of this. Read "The Iron Wall" by Jewish professor Avi Schlaim for the full story, also available at the main library.

Becky, it seems that you get all your information from right wing extremists, such as dafka.org and other extreme groups. What history books have you read. Please let me know. I will check them out. Sincerely..

When you say to Jerry that the home demolitions are a desperate measure to stop suicide bombers, you are wrong. Acoording to The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions www.icahd.org , 94% of the roughly ten thousand Palestinian homes which have been demolished since 1967, were not connected in any way to terrorists. In fact home demolitions are not a new practice and have been going on since 1948. Here is a quote from Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, in his book, "A History Of Modern Palestine" : Pgs. 138-139 "By the winter of 1949, the guns were silent. The second phase of the war had ended, and with it the second, but not the last, stage of the 'cleansing' of Palestine was over."; "While in the first phase it was urban Palestine that was subjected to expulsions and massacres, the bulk of the population living in the rural areas became victims of this policy after May 1948. Out of about 850,000 Palestinians living in the territories designated by the U.N. as a Jewish state, only 160,000 remained on or nearby their land and homes. Those who remained became the Palestinian minority in Israel. The rest were expelled or fled under the threat of expulsion, and a few thousand died in massacres. Thus, when the winter was over and the spring of 1949 warmed a particularly frozen Palestine, the land as we have described it in this book-reconstructing a period stretching over 250 years-had changed beyond recognition. The countryside, the rural heart of Palestine, with it's colourful and picturesque villages, was ruined. Half of the villages had been destroyed, flattened by Israeli bulldozers which had been at work since August 1948 when the government had decided either to turn them into cultivated land or to build new Jewish settlements on their remains." ; "Three quarters of a million Palestinians became refugees. This was almost 90 percent of those living in what was designated as the Jewish state. By the winter of 1948, they were already in tents provided by international charity organizations, warmed only by the U.N. resolution promising them a quick return to their homes. Those living in the Gaza Strip became acquainted with Egyptian military rule, harsh at the time, but mostly indifferent, in a packed area that included the largest segment of the refugee community."
Also on pgs. 139-140, Pappe says, " Palestine was lost to the Palestinians in the 1948 war, as much on the diplomatic front as on the battlefield. The tacit understanding reached between Israel and Jordan on the eve of the war over the partitioning of post-Mandate Palestine neutralized the Arab legion, Jordan's efficient, British led army, which confined its activity to the area around Jerusalem. This was a stategic decision that determined the balance of power in the 1948 war. In all, apart from a short period of parity, the Jewish side had more, but not significantly more, soldiers and ammunition as the war continued. It was highly mobilized compared to its opponents, and far better organized. The Hagana could draw from a reserve of Western-trained and homegrown officers with military expeience. It had an effective centralized system of command and control and fought over a relatively small area, enabling it to operate swiftly and more efficiently than the Egyptian or Iraqi armies, fighting a long way from home. The settlement policy of the Jewish Agency left many settlements in isolated positions and the general balance of power was not reflected around these spots. There were, according to the official Israeli foundational mythology, a few Jews against many Arabs in several battles, and Jewish acts of heroism were indeed performed on these killing fields, but this was not universal. Nonetheless, the 660,000-strong Jewish community suffered 6,000 deaths, of which 2,000 were civilians: in all, 1 percent of the population." Ilan Pappe teaches politics at Haifa University in Israel. He has written extensively on the politics of the Middle East. His books include "A History of Modern Palestine. One Land,Two Peoples", The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict,1947-1951" and "The Palestine Question" (1999)
Another author to check out: Tanya Reinhart, Israeli scholar and author of "How To End the War of 1948". Also check out the Frontline video, "Journey to the Occupied Lands" available at the Santa Cruz public library.