Regarding the establishment of Israel and Jordan, the preceding posts have not been precisely correct in every detail, but generally accurate nonetheless. The British issued the Balfour Declaration, affirming support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, November 2, 1917, in the latter days of WWI. Then the League of Nations affirmed the British proposal in the British Mandate, July 24, 1922, including the proposed establishment of a self-governing Jewish state that seemingly included all of what was later partitioned into Israel and Jordan. The British were not too faithful in bringing about the policy enunciated in the Balfour declaration, and after 30 years the actual establishment of the states of Israel and Jordan was endorsed by the UN following WWII in 1947.

As indicated in Lindsay's article (despite his errant eschatology), the Jews began with emmigration and purchase of the nearly useless lands of Palestine in the 19th century. The land had been ravaged centuries before by the horrific tax policies and destructive management of the foreign Moslem rulers (tax on every fruit tree for example, resulting in the deforestation of the land and considerable climactic change). It is true that there never was a Palestinian nation, and that the land was largely empty and the cities dilapidated before the Jews began to move in and values began to rise as a result of their investments. That land has been historically under foreign domination except for intervals of a few centuries scattered here and there (ancient Israel, Maccabean Judea, and modern Israel), and the only people who have ever had an independent nation there (more than city-states) have been Israelites.

For my opinion, I think the modern Jewish nation has the moral high-ground when it comes to claiming a right to the peaceful occupation of the land. It is not an unsullied claim though. There were abuses and counter abuses between Arabs and Jews for years before statehood came about, and they still continue. Terrorism has been a tool of both sides - which in no way justifies the murders taking place there now. The state of Israel has not been even-handed in its treatment of non-Israelis, the word oppression comes readily to mind, and Israel bears some share of blame for the plight of the Palestinians. That blame is also on the heads by the surrounding Arab nations and self-serving leaders among the Palestinians, and it would be my opinion that by far the greater blame lies with the "friends" of the Palestinians and the United Nations. The Palestians have been used, and far more has been done to provoke continued animus than to in any way alleviate or solve their problems. Of course, that is indeed politics.

Also opinion, in terms of Biblical interpretation here, I think the Jews would have a legitimate claim to the land in a Biblical-historical perspective IF they were a Mosaic theocracy rather than a democracy, but the Biblical claim of heritage and return is dependant on a prevailing attitude that is not apparent in the modern nation.

2 Chron 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. NIV

: Caf, when a poster seems to be responding to him/herself, it's usually my fault. For some reason I seem to wanna fill in the 'Name:' window with the name of the person to whom I am responding, and I've done this several times in the past.

: I would only add, as a point of fact, that Israel and Jordan were established by the United Nations, not the League of Nations.

• 1936 British Report on the state of Palestinian affairs