As the Arabs see the Jews

Jordan's King Hussein's website has an article written by King Hussein's grandfather, King Abdullah, in 1947 -- six months before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The article was written in response to victors of WWII carving Israel from lands belonging to the Arabs of Palestine. In the article, Abdullah stresses that the Arabs and Jews have had a long history of peaceful coexistence, and if there's any group that should carry the guilt for anti-Semitism, it's the Christian world. They have long persecuted the Jews -- case in point, the Nazis of Germany. Abdullah asks the question, how can the Jews claim a historic right to Palestine after the Arabs have been the majority there for nearly 1,300 uninterrupted years?

I've personally always had a problem with creation of Israel after the second world war. Whatever motivated the Allies to support the creation of a Jewish state, carving it out of Palestine was wrong -- and a slap in the face to the Arabs who fought alongside the Allies in the war. Having said that however, it's been 50-years. Israel is a fact today. It's not going to dissolve -- especially since the combined Arab armies don't have the might to face down Israel. The fighting needs to end. Coexistence is the only viable alternative -- either that or keep shooting until there's no one left.