As some of the posters indicated, the history of the Middle East is rather complicated. However, if one sticks to the simple facts there are a few undisputed "mega facts" that clarify the big picture.

- In 1917 when Britain promised the Zionist movement a homeland for Jews in Palestine, Jews were less than 3% of the population. A Jewish state had not existed in that region for close to 2000 years.

- Zionists (mostly European Jews initially) came to Palestine with the intent of creating a state with a Jewish majority.

- A Jewish majority could not have been created without ethnically cleansing the indigenous Palestinian (Arab) population. As historian Benny Morris noted "Ben-Gurion was a transferist. He understood that there could be no Jewish state with a large and hostile Arab minority in its midst. There would be no such state. It would not be able to exist."

- Palestinians and their Arab allies rejected the Zionist project (wouldn't you if you were in their shoes?) and a number of wars ensued.

- Today there are over 4 million Palestinian refugees as a result of the ethnic cleansing accompanying the creation of Israel. These refugees are not allowed their "right of return" guaranteed by UN Security Council resolution 194. While Jews from all around the world can move to former Palestine and get instant citizenship as per Israel's "law of return"

- The Zionists portrayed the entire conflict as one between enlightened, peace-loving and Holocaust-fleeing Jews and violence-prone terrorist Palestinians even though looking at the dynamics of the conflict (Jews moving in to displace Palestinians) would suggest otherwise. Much of the West fell for this propaganda because of guilt over the Holocaust.

- Today the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza suffer under a 40-year long military occupation. Jewish settlements and roads for exclusive Jewish use are all over the West Bank (while Gaza's border and airspace are still controlled by Israel).

These are lots of minute details but the above are the basic mega facts necessary to understand what is happening in the Middle East.

As long as AIPAC has control of US foreign policy in the Middle East, Americans will continue to fight made-up wars for the wrong reasons and wonder "why the world hates us so much?".

AIPAC's objective: Nothing less than the Israelization of America so that the US will participate more readily in wars on Israel's side. They are already 40% of the way there. If you don't believe me, have you watched the paranoia and fear mongering on FOX or CNN lately? AIPAC's weapon: Fear mongering (of the terrorists with mythical powers which they might us to harm us. The harm is limited only by our imagination!). Keep in mind that fear can paralyze the thinking abilities of an entire nation!

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

-- Bertrand Russell.

www.whatreallyhappened.com

The Israel Lobby is at it again. Lieberman, and the rest of the Israel Lobby, are working overtime to make this happen before Bush's term is over.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181228588702&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The report about the Syrian musicians is but part of a fear mongering campaign to get the US to eventually attack Iran. How stupid do these people think Americans are? If the Syrians were part of a "dry run" team, wouldn't they want to keep a low profile on a domestic US flight?

Their chief spokesperson, Joe Lieberman, cannot contain his eagerness for a new war where American boys will continue to die for Israel. This new war on Iran would likely make terrorism truly the defining issue of our time - as Lieberman and his buddies would like it to be - because it would unleash the destructive forces of chaos and radicalism even more than the Iraq war has done!

He represents the Israel Lobby which is fighting vigorously for more wars in the Middle East where American power can be used to destabilize Israel's enemies.

Mr. Lieberman, How about serving the interests of the voters of Connecticut rather than a foreign country?

especially if the fighting and dying are done by American troops. Any follower of Israeli politics - and by extension the Israel Lobby and Lieberman - would quickly realize that attacking Iran (and getting the US to do it) is the number one priority for Israel.

The idea here is destabilizing one's enemies, and getting others to fight the war, are a good thing. As the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during his visit to Bush last November the "Iraq war had a dramatic, positive effect on security and stability in the Middle East, as well as having strategic importance from Israel's perspective" !!!!!!!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/787776.html

Now that is a statement that says it all!

If anything senior Government officials should be subjected to a stricter enforcement of the law than the rest of us. After all they are in office to serve the public by ensuring the law of the land is respected!

Take the example of the Iraq war. All you need to do is read about the objectives of the leading neocons (Richard Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks, Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser) in their own words.

The neocons- many of whom having close ideological links with Israel's fascist Likud party- succeeded in what they had set out to do from the start: Implement the Israeli right-wing plans of giving Israel a strategic edge in reshaping its "realm" (i.e. the Middle East) by destabalizing its enemies as they outlined in "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" published by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies

http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm

There is one minor detail: American soldiers had to do the fighting and dying!