[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Chris

I’ve asked Seph, in particular, multiple times to justify his choice of 1948 as his starting point. I was picking on him only because when he set out his potted history of the conflict he made a point of claiming to have done a lot of work to provide detail. I dispute any claim that a summary starting in 1948 comes anywhere close to the necessary detail. It’s like trying to understand World War 2 while assuming nothing important occurred prior to 3rd September 1939.

I repeated my request to Seph when he made comments about people choosing either to blame, or ignore, British foreign policy (especially in the context of empire). The British ruled the territory in question under authorisation from the United Nations via the Mandate for Palestine from 1920 to 1948 and many of the reasons why it has been impossible to get the parties to come to terms are rooted in that period (though not exclusively - you really have to go back to the mid 19th century to really understand how we got to where we are now).

Sadly, on both occasions, Seph has chosen to ignore my requests.

I don't like to dodge a question and I appreciate the reminder.

You used the term "potted history". Indeed, that is what I intended. There was no selectivity about it, 1948 seemed the correct starting point because that was when the first war between Israel and its neighbours started. I don't see what the British mandate had to do with any of this current stuff, which is rooted in the ideological clash between certain Arabs and Israel as a whole. The Ottoman stuff is irrelevant. Arabs with guns hate Jews and last week murdered hundreds. Jews with guns will fight Arabs with guns but won't murder ordinary civilians.