[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

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[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

There is no age-old Palestinian people. Most so-called Palestinians are relative newcomers to the Land of Israel.

There are no 'age-old' American people either. So what? How long people have lived in a land had better not be a criteria for staying in that land, or most of us have a lot of moving to do!

Arabs have been in the area for centuries. Jews have been in the area for centuries. But 'most' Jews are also 'newcomers' to the Middle-East.

In 1922, Jews were only 11% of the population. In 1945, Jews were up to 33% of the population. After WWII, the mass immigration of Jewish refugees swelled the population of Israel from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.

So most of the so called Israelis are also relative newcomers to the area.

[BroJoeK]

"Until the Jews began returning to the Land of Israel in increasing numbers from the late 19th century to the turn of the 20th, the area called Palestine was a God-forsaken backwash that belonged to the Ottoman Empire, based in Turkey."

Almost without exception (China?), every country consists of peoples whose ancestors migrated there from somewhere else, centuries or millenia before.

The history of the land called "Palestine" is particularly rich, with various groups ruling and living there over thousands of years. Greek Philistines and Semitic "proto-Jews" can be traced back archaeologically to before 1,000 BC.

The Philistines are long gone, but at least some Jews have lived there ever since.
Beginning in New Testament times, Christians also have lived there continuously.
Since the 7th century, Muslims have lived continuously in Palestine.
Many other groups came and went -- Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, more Greeks, Crusaders, Turks, Brits, etc.

But, with one exception, all the groups who came and went in Palestine were mere subjects, in various parts of small provinces, of some vast multi-national empire which for a time ruled over Palestine.

The one exception were rather unique peoples, who (by my count) four different times fought for and established their own independent nation, most recently in 1948.

I'd say this gives them a status different from the others.