re: #763 Buck

You mean before the time of Moses? Seriously?

What I mean is that it’s pointless to talk about “2,000 years of history” unless you also allow discussion of the 10,000 years that went on before that. Again, my point is that these absolute claims to ownership don’t really carry much intellectual clout, especially when ownership has more or less violently changed hands at various points in history.

re: #767 LudwigVanQuixote

OK so then nothing is anyone’s, why does it follow that the Muslim claim which is certainly weaker, gets any validity at all?

See, you’re happy to say that it’s weaker, but not to allow that the Jewish claim might also be weak for the same reasons.

Again, arguing from “God says so” is pointless. Arguing from “we’ve been here a long time” is slightly less pointless, but then you have to accept that there are other people with similar claims.

re: #764 SanFranciscoZionist

I think this is an extremely well-written and well-thought out comment. I am not trying to propose a solution here (unfortunately). I am trying to point out some of the flaws in people’s reasoning that might render solutions harder to come by.