Quote Originally Posted by marct View Post
I have the same problem quite often . Usually, it just amuses me although some times I want to get back to my ancestral way of dealing with twits (involving either swords or Wicker Men). The "my story is better than your story " attitude can be a real pain but, hey, it's something that we all do at times and I do like to laugh at myself . For some strange reason, I've found that that attitude tends to PO the real twits more than anything else...
I hear you brother. I'm not debating the "better story." I picked a side a very long time ago, based on for want of a word "a story."

"My story" is as valid as the "story" Americans tell themselves about their nation.
Why I get PO'd is folks telling me what "my story" is or why its somehow not the right one.
What you have here on SWJ is a few folk digging around to try and come up with "a story" that makes Israeli beliefs and causes less legitimate.

...and yes, as I've said before, I think Israel should ditch US military funding. The original funding was only predicated as a counter to the Soviet funding of Egypt and Syria, and the continued funding is based on the joint funding of Jordan and Egypt, as per the Sinai agreement.

....so no good reason to continue the funding. It's actually bad for the IDF.

Okay, now that we have gone through all of this, let me toss out a more general question: other than (continuing) warfare, how should we handle competing claims?
Right now, or in 30 seconds time? That goes back to the "story." This is what folks just do not understand. Rex Brynen is about the only guy here who actually understands the problem, - and Rex as someone who has committed his life to helping Palestinians, - I can sit and talk to Rex pretty objectively, because we know the "story" is the issue.

Personally, I'd start with Israel's 1970-1 peace proposal to Jordan, as a good starting point, but I'll let you all discuss that without my input.