Is religion responsible for the opposition to peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict?

a police and military operation conducted by the British authorities in Mandatory Palestine. Soldiers and police searched for arms and made arrests in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, and in several dozen settlements; the Jewish Agency was raided. The total number of British security forces involved is variously reported as 10,000, 17,000, and 25,000. About 2,700 individuals were arrested, among them future Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett.

The British operations were extensive. Low flying planes circled Jerusalem. Roadblocks were maintained, trains were flagged down, and passengers were evacuated and escorted home. Special licenses were required for the operations of emergency vehicles. Curfews were imposed.

Arms caches were discovered. At Kibbutz Yagur, the troops found more than 300 rifles, some 100 2-inch mortars, more than 400,000 bullets, some 5,000 grenades and 78 revolvers. The arms were displayed at a press conference, and all the men of Yagur were arrested.[3]

Agatha triggered echoes of the Holocaust in the minds of many people. Women ripped their clothing to expose concentration camp tattoos. There were incidents of people in the settlements herded into cages while screaming that this was what the Nazis did. A minority among the British troops exacerbated the situation by shouting "Heil Hitler," scrawling swastikas on walls, and referring to gas chambers while conducting searches.[4]

The officially given purpose of the operation was to end "the state of anarchy" then existing in Palestine. Other objectives included obtaining documentary proof of Jewish Agency approval of sabotage operations by the Palmach and of an alliance between the Haganah and the more violent Lehi (Stern Gang) and Irgun, to destroy the Haganah's military power, to boost army morale and to prevent a coup d'état being mounted by the Lehi and Irgun.[1]

No, it demonstrated that the British, perceived as occupiers by the Zionists . . .

I haven't been following all of your commentary, but do you think that the violence of the Palestinians (and surely you're not going to argue it doesn't exist) is any less prevalent or less unacceptable than what you cite as Zionist violence?

InfraBlue wrote:

The Merneptah Stele doesn't make reference to culture.
The line where Israel is thought to be mentioned is:
"Israel is laid waste and his seed is not."

Mentioning their culture by name is a pretty clear recognition of that culture as a specific entity.

InfraBlue wrote:

Right. You, however, had conflated Jewish dietary practices with evidence of Israelites. These practices are evidenced throughout the region, so they don't distinguish "Israelite culture" specifically.

Given that the Israelite culture was one of the ones in that area with those dietary practices, these archaeological findings are evidence that Israeli culture was there at this time.

InfraBlue wrote:

You're presuming what isn't there.
The Tel Dan Stele from that time period says:

Quote:

[I killed
Jeho]ram son of [Ahab]
king of Israel, and killed [Ahaz]iahu son of
[Jehoram kin]
g of the House of David. And I set [their towns into
ruins and turned]
their land into [desolation ...]
other [... and Jehu ru]
led over Is[rael ... and I laid]
siege upon [... ]

Nowhere does it mention Judah.

It is a pretty safe presumption that the House of David refers to Judah's rulers and not to the rulers of some other kingdom.

InfraBlue wrote:

I was referring to your assertion that Assyria recorded its conquest and destruction of the two kingdoms in 722 BC. In the Sargon Inscription, or Prism, it refers to Sargon besieging a town in Samaria, not the conquest and destruction of Israel nor Judah for that matter.

Here's a better translation:

Quote:

At the beginning of my royal rule, I…the town of the Samarians I besieged, conquered (2 Lines destroyed) [for the god…] who let me achieve this my triumph… I led away as prisoners [27,290 inhabitants of it (and) equipped from among them (soldiers to man)] 50 chariots for my royal corps…. The town I rebuilt better than it was before and settled therein people from countries which I had conquered. I placed an officer of mine as governor over them and imposed upon them tribute as is customary for Assyrian citizens. (Nimrud Prism IV 25‑41)

Samaria was the capital city of the northern Israelite kingdom (just as Jerusalem was the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah).

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaria_(ancient_city)

Depopulating a capital city was a pretty effective way to destroy a polity given the level of social organization back in those days.

InfraBlue wrote:

They base their claims of ownership on the legends and myths of the Bible, i.e. they or their ancestors followed a religion with claims to Palestine, therefor they own Palestine. This assertion is complete and utter nonsense.

I suppose there could be someone somewhere basing their claim on that argument.

But there is also an argument based on the historical and archaeological fact that the West Bank is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.

InfraBlue wrote:

The arguments about the House of David and the House of Omri back in the days of Aram-Damascus and Assyria are plainly irrelevant to their preposterous stance.

A bit more relevant however to the argument that this is their historical and archaeological homeland.

InfraBlue wrote:

Right, it is straightforward logic that they came from their own homeland, i.e. the places the Zionist Ashkenazim were indigenous to, e.g. Central and Eastern Europe.

History and archaeology show that the Jewish people are indigenous to the West Bank.

The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, forming the bulk of the Palestinian territories.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2, consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea.[3] As of July 2015 it has an estimated population of 2,785,366 Palestinians,[3] and approximately 371,000 Israeli settlers,[3] and approximately another 212,000 Jewish Israelis in East Jerusalem.[3] The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.[4][5][6][7] The International Court of Justice advisory ruling (2004) concluded that events that came after the 1967 occupation of the West Bank by Israel, including the Jerusalem Law, Israel's peace treaty with Jordan and the Oslo Accords, did not change the status of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as occupied territory with Israel as the occupying power.[8][9]

Glennn wrote: Can you tell me what year Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas?

Oralloy wrote: I expect never. It sounds like the sort of nonsense that Palestinians spout to justify murdering children.

So let's start here. You said that Israel never broke a ceasefire with Hamas.

Do you still hold to that idea?

Glennn wrote: What you're really saying is that you haven't googled Operation Agatha.

Oralloy wrote: Correct.

Then my point stands.

Operation Agatha shows the violent nature and character of Zionism,

and your answer to that is to close your eyes and pretend that if you don't look into it, it never happened.

You're doing a fine job of demonstrating the not so fine art of squirming.

This Operation Agatha?

The fact is, Israel continues to build settlements in occupied territory in contravention of International Law.

Is it also your contention that the occupied have no right to resist occupation?

"Israel" in that line is not a reference to culture. It doesn't make sense read that way.

You're merely repeating your misconceptions.

"House of" could refer to the family line of a chieftain as its use is distinguished by the use of the word "king" in the same passage.

The passage refers to besieging a town in Samaria, not besieging Samaria the city.

You're basing your claim on that argument.

It's a delusional argument.

That's your claim unsupported by history or archaeology.

That's a gross generalization unsupported by history or archaeology in regard to the Zionist Ashkenazim.

FACT: Israel's occupation of the West Bank is illegal under international law.