http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/no_one_is_stealing_palestinian_land.html
In response to a recent essay I had written, the following letter was sent to me by one of my readers. This is a common theme amongst two sets of people supporting the Palestinian cause: those with unmistakable animus toward Israel and Jews and others just misinformed by consistent, unremitting propaganda (a category I place this writer in).
“I am 100 percent in favor of freezing settlements. What settlers are doing there is the same as what my European ancestors did to my Native American ancestors. Stealing land. It should stop. My inclination is to want Israel to go back to the 1967 borders, but I admit that I do not have the historical knowledge to understand the wars that increased the boundaries. So I’m not firm on that. But the further expansion of borders is very wrong, in my opinion.
So you might want to stop e-mailing me. Or tell me what right settlers have to take Palestinians’ land. ‘Cause I just don’t get it?”
My reply:
Hi — thanks for giving me the opportunity to explain to you why this is not Palestinian land and never was. If you approach what I will reveal with an open mind, you’ll recognize that the Palestinian argument is at best disingenuous and at worst an outright lie.
From an historical standpoint, Jews have lived in the land of Israel for nearly 4,000 years, going back to the period of the biblical patriarchs (c. 1900 BCE). The story of the Jewish people; Israel; its capital, Jerusalem; and the Jewish Temple has been one of exile, destruction, and rebirth. In its 3,000 years of history, Jerusalem has been destroyed seventeen times and eighteen times reborn. During these periods of disbursement, there has always remained a constant Jewish presence in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem. For those Jews forced into exile throughout the world, one theme has remained constant: the dream of returning to their homeland, Eretz Yisrael, to rebuild and restore her to the glory of old. Throughout the millennia, Diaspora Jews to this day face towards Jerusalem during prayers.