He was in charge then and therefore of course he wants to justify the decisions that he helped make. He is not exactly an unbiased observer.

After all Saddam still claims he won the first Gulf War, Egypt claims that it won the Yom Kippur war, the New Palestinian PM denies the Holocaust, offical Egyptian TV broadcasts the protocols of the Elders of Zion, etc.

What facts do you think that I am denying?

Judaism has survived for thousands of years and will continue to survive precisiely because it provides spiritual sustenance and a model society. As Mark Twain wrote:
"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

The Jew is not a disturber of the peace of any country. Even his enemies will concede that. He is not a loafer, he is not a sot, he is not noisy, he is not a brawler nor a rioter, he is not quarrelsome. In the statistics of crime his presence is conspicuously rare -- in all countries. With murder and other crimes of violence he has but little to do: he is a stranger to the hangman. In the police court's daily long roll of "assaults" and "drunk and disorderlies" his name seldom appears. That the Jewish home is a home in the truest sense is a fact which no one will dispute. The family is knitted together by the strongest affections; its members show each other every due respect; and reverence for the elders is an inviolate law of the house. The Jew is not a burden on the charities of the state nor of the city; these could cease from their functions without affecting him. When he is well enough, he works; when he is incapacitated, his own people take care of him. And not in a poor and stingy way, but with a fine and large benevolence. His race is entitled to be called the most benevolent of all the races of men. A Jewish beggar is not impossible, perhaps; such a thing may exist, but there are few men that can say they have seen that spectacle. The Jew has been staged in many uncomplimentary forms, but, so far as I know, no dramatist has done him the injustice to stage him as a beggar. Whenever a Jew has real need to beg, his people save him from the necessity of doing it. The charitable institutions of the Jews are supported by Jewish money, and amply. The Jews make no noise about it; it is done quietly; they do not nag and pester and harass us for contributions; they give us peace, and set us an example -- an example which we have not found ourselves able to follow; for by nature we are not free givers, and have to be patiently and persistently hunted down in the interest of the unfortunate."

Is the US a model society? Can you say that US society is so healthy? How many people in the US do not have access to health care? How many people are unemployed in the US with little hope of finding a job? How many homeless? How much wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few? How free are the elections? etc. How many seats in the House will actually be contested (what is teh re-election rate something like 98%)? In fact, according to you, the US is engaging in a completely unjust war against Iraq. As your religion says he who has no sins should cast the first stone.

If anything given the circumstances, Israel has been a a continuation of Twain's point. The Jews a speck in the population of the world, in 50 years created a modern democratic state in the face of unyielding antagonism and terrorism.

Israel is actually a democratic state which is moving further away from state imposed religious rules as we speak. In truth, most of the population is not religious and is very secular. The current government is secular and is overturning many of the existing religious rules.

It is hard to trust someone who for the last 50 years has been trying to throw you into the sea. A little history, and some facts.
1. There are 22 Arab states comprising more then 99% of the land in the Middle East.
2. In 1922 Britain took most of Palestine and created the Arab state of Jordan
3. In 1948 the Jews accepted the partition plan the Arabs didn't.
4. In 1967, Israel offered to negotaiate right after the 6 day war and received in return the 3 no's of Khartoum.
5. In between the Arabs have committed many terrorist attacks such as the killing of Israeli athletes at the Olympics in 1972, the Entebbe hijacking in 1976, the blowing up of buses in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 1996, up to the current atrocities.
6. In 2000, Barak offered the Palestinians a state, a share in Jerusalem (in response to that Arafat denied teh Jews claim to Jerusalem) etc., in return he received war.
7. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a best seller in many Arab countries
8. The new Palestinian Prime Minister is a public Holocaust denier.
9. From 1948-1967 when Jordan ruled the old city of Jerusalem every single synagogue was destroyed and of course no Jews were allowed.
10. Various Arab groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Islamic Jihad, etc. state publicly that they want to destroy Israel

The fact is that an overwhelming majority of the population according to every poll is willing to accept a Palestinian state. However, not until the Palestinians stop the terror attacks and show that their state will not just be another Arab anti-Israel dictatorship.

Btw, forget about Saudia Arabia letting Jews into Mecca, first they have to let them into the country.

When your very existence is on the line it is a different matter. What you fail to understand is that it takes 2 sides to make peace. If the other side denies you the right to exist, you can try as hard as you want peace is not going to happen. You dismiss my concerns, however, look at the change that has occurred in the US after one lone terrorist attack. Now imagine, this happening over and over again for 50 years after a history of 2000 years of persecution.

What is your solution, what should Israel do?

Read Haaretz in English 1 day, there is tremendous criticism of the government at times. In fact, this is exactly what separates Israel from the Arabs. In Israel there is an organization called Peace Now (which in the past has had demonstrations of over 400,000 people not bad in a country of 6 million) which is pushing for peace between Israel and the Arabs, I am still looking for the Palestinian Peace Now movement. When a Palestinian even hints at compromise (like Sari Nuseibah) he is immediatley threatened with death. Sharon the PM of Israel has stated publicly that he supports a Palestinian state, when is Arafat and other Arab leaders going to state unequivocally in Arabic that Israel is a fact and is not going away.

The fact is that the one Arab leader who did this, Sadat, got everything he asked for, Israel withdrew from every inch, of course he paid for that with his life.