Excellent work. The following has not been strong enough yet. Jews and American Jews in particular will need to decide if, not only for the sake of their own heritage and respect by other nations, but also for the sake of Israel’s survival as a state, they should take a more united stand against Israeli apartheid policies. In my view, on a long run, your approach should work better for the Jewish people than Israeli policies against Palestinians.

Historically no clear statehood seemed to have existed in this region, governed by either Jews or Palestinians. These territories were occupied by the ancient Egypt, Rome, Persian, Arab and Ottoman empires and recently, before establishing the state of Israel, by the British. Temporary kingdoms both Jewish and Philistine have existed in the past, but they have not survived the pressures by the foreign powers. Both ancient Jews and Philistines were Semitic tribes but contemporary Israel and Palestine do not necessarily reflect their ethnic origin, considering more recent influx of European Jews and Arabs.

All people inhabiting these territories have suffered enough under foreign occupations of the past and present, and most certainly both have justified right to their own country. Divisions between Jews and Palestinians probably originated from the policies of foreign powers. It will probably take generations of bitter fighting of one another before both sides will finally understand that the out – of – the box solution lies in one democratic state for all people living in what is now Israel and its occupied territories.

also consider these surprising ideas:

1. the Hashmonean priests who led the Chanuka revolt were religious fanatics. they opposed not only Greek religious edicts but everything about Greek secular culture, including schools, theatre, and sports. they were akin to a kind of Jewish “Taliban”

2. this same family forcibly converted Edomites to Judaism and intermarried with them, producing the Herodian dynasty, probably the most wicked and corrupt leaders in all of ancient Israel. This family rebuilt the Jewish Temple which became the anti Christ symbol par excellence against which Jesus fought and murdered thousands of Jews, including their own family members.

3. the Western Wall that Jews revere is the remains of the Temple reconstruction by Herod the Great and Herod Antipas, the former of whom murdered his own wives and children, along with countless others, including the babes in Bethlehem, and the latter of whom murdered John the Baptist, the greatest Old Testament prophet according to Jesus.

4. isn’t it ironic that Jews revere a wall built by a psychopathic murdering Edomite usurper of David’s throne, but they revile Jesus of Nazareth, David’s true heir and Savior of the world!

5. Chanuka does not celebrate freedom for all of mankind. It is a narrow and bigotted celebration of religious extremism and nostalgia for a Temple that Jesus condemned to destruction and to be replaced by a brotherhood of men and women who would worship God in spirit and in truth.

Shalom waSalaam

However, I am concerned about the use of language.

Seems to me the Palestinian people are the Semitic people.

Most Jews and in particular Israeli’s are of European stock!

The state of Israel’s actions promote anti-Jewish sentiments. The state of Israel by its actions is anti-Semitic!

One of the methods to exterminate a race is to take away their sense of who they are…