re: #75 ProBosniaLiberal

Well that is a loaded post but lets discuss it. Much of the land in Israel was worthless desert. Some of the settlement areas (not all) were developed by the Israelis and that is what transformed them from being worthless desert to being homes for settlers. Others were settled specifically because Jerusalem could not be defended without controlling them. You seem to imagine Israel annexing previous lush jungle and pushing everything else into the desert. That is not how it is or was.

However, the quantum of land that is to be annexed to Israel vs. annexed to Palestine is and should be debated, as should the relative quality of said land, as should water rights which is clearly critical and is likely to be a real stumbling block.

As for Israel preserving mosques and cathedrals, Israel has done a pretty good job over the years doing just that. In fact when it took Jerusalem in the war, it gave control over the temple mount to the Waqf. It was an act we would certainly not see from any islamic government for Jewish relics in the area as you will no doubt agree. In fact for years the Waqf has been intentionally destroying evidence of the Jewish history of the temple mount. Moreover, the fact that the Islamic and Christian sites were deliberately built on the ruins of the destroyed Jewish temple should not be lost on you.