Irene - Your unlimited knowledge of everything -- including the Middle East and Israel -- always stuns me. That the Palestinians were thrown out is as questionable as your pseudonym. Israel was attacked full-bore in 1948 and before and after. You may not realize this, but there's not a single Jew in any of those other friendly Arab states either. I wonder why. I'd have a problem if I landed as a tourist in Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Lebanon while you wouldn't -- except that you're female. This is a world that's not very accepting. Israel isn't accepted. Period. While Israel is no angel, (they learned from the Holocaust to be more aggressive if they want to survive), it takes aggression to survive in that neighborhood. Still your portrait of Israel is distorted. It's just too monochromatic, too black and white. Israel's the bad guy and the Palestinians -- the poor Palestinians -- are the good guys in this melodrama, this soap opera of yours. It's not true -- soap operas never are -- and I'm sick and tired of hearing this story. I can find things to criticize Israel about too, but not the way you do, filled with lies and misrepresentations. Stan Spiegel Portland, ME ----- Original Message ----- From: Andy Amago To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 10:33 AM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Israel "The best we can hope for is that we agree to live here and they agree to live over there." Except that they once lived here until we threw them out and turned them into refugees. -----Original Message----- From: "JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx Krueger" Sent: Mar 31, 2007 7:06 AM To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [lit-ideas] Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Israel http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6510799.stm I fairly illuminating article. Julie Krueger ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html