LIZABETH, I was being a little sarcastic as Ray was. I do not think Israel will be destroyed but it will lose territory when a new Palestine home land is formed. I am not sure this is a defeat by the Muslim world but if will be the answer to many prayers including mine by peace.

I am not sure what this has to d with Rc or Catholics as I prefer. No catholic is bound to accept the first five books of the Bible as literal. Therefore we do not necessary believe that God gave any part of the Holy Land to the Jews. Christ will not return to the real city of Jerusalem and it will not matter if it was in Jewish or Muslim hands. Neither believe He is God although at least the Muslim believe he was a prophet. All the Jews can ask when he returns was "Have you being here before ?"

I don't doubt that most people want peace. I simply ask how Muslims want peace in the ME and how they're working toward that peace, given that they, according to what we're told, simply make demands.

As near as I can tell, no Muslim ME country is willing to assimilate the Muslim Arabs in the Gaza--which would, possibly, provide for peace in the region. Why not? What do you think are the reasons?

I expect you'll say it's because the 'Palestinians' lived on the land for centuries--but so did Judaic tribes for over 4000 years, in bits and pieces--despite the diaspora.

That leaves me with only the feeling that you're against the creation of Israel by the British after WWII. Why?

I label myself as someone who was raised in the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church in order to define myself as a non-Orthodox Catholic. I have absolutely no idea whether or not Catholics are 'required' to believe that the first 5 books of the Bible are 'divinely' inspired, and therefore, 'true,' especially Genesis. My beliefs are my own.

That still doesn't show me how you can justify an Arab Muslim state, that denies the right of equally semetic people of another religion, to exist.

Lizabeth, There are millions of Muslims that want peace. This like in Ireland will mean compromise. Those on the West Bank have favor negotiations for a two state solution in Palestine.

No Muslim state could assimilate the present millions of Palestine refugees in Jordon let alone those in Gaza. Most of these countries are overcrowded , poor and mainly deserts. Palestine is the most fertile part of the region.

Arabs have lived in Palestine for centuries. Jews were original Arab and only became Jewish when they adopted a different religion to their pagan neighbours. .This appears to have occur under Moses between 1300 and 1200 BC. There is no record of a separate Jewish tribe before that. Although some of the legends that the Jews adopted may have dated before that time.(Shorter Atlas of the Bible by Luc H Grollenberg)

There is no proof that the Jews were consider a separate race before the last few centuries. By not marrying outside their religion they did keep a purer blood line but most Jews today are still European.

Whether the creation of Israel was a mistake only time and history will tell. There were proposals to settle the Jews in a European country but most Europeans opposed it. They prefer to pass the problem onto the Arabs.

However now that Israel is established I am in favor of keeping it on the 1967 Borders. This is what the British agree to in 1949.

Having no allegiance to the Catholic Church you can believe what you like. I believe that the first five books of the Bible were divinely inspire but their meaning is symbolic not literal. This is opinion of scholars in our church.

I do not support an Only a handful of Arabs and Muslims support this. There are plenty of examples of Muslim states where all religions are tolerated, For example Indonesia and Turkey. Even in the time since the crusades Muslims Arabs live peacefully in the Middle East with Jews and Christians.