Quote Originally Posted by DDT
There is a strong ideologically driven movement within Israel that sees all of the West Bank as rightfully belonging to the Jewish state. It has pushed for and succeeded in establishing numerous settlements throughout the West Bank since that territory was captured in the 1967 war.
Well Duhhh! You probably are not old enough to remember but I am. But I remember when Israel first annexed West Bank and Gaza. It was clear from the beginning that these lands were to be permanent part of Israel. No one tried to hide this fact back then. The Israeli government was encouraging settlement of these lands and promised any settlers that they would get full backing of the government and that they would not be left high and dry at a future date by Israel giving the lands back to Arab control.

At first the West Bank was never referred to as occupied but in recent years the media has begun using this word to describe West Bank and Gaza. The media has been biased against Israel increasingly since the late 70's and 80's.
Unfortunately our beloved media has been trying to socially engineer us now for years and by the intolerance I have seen for Israel here, I see it is beginning to work.

Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza in the legitimate defense of herself and under international laws of war, had the right to annex those lands. Just as the Allies did after WWII ....and every other war in history.
This is not just about land, it's about people. There are around 2.5 million Arabs who live in the West Bank. Should they be made citizens of Israel? Or would you perhaps prefer to see them driven out into Jordan to make way for total annexation and settlement of the territory by Israelis? Do you think it was a mistake not to drive them out of their homes at the time of the six day war?

Oh, and by the way, Israel only ever formally annexed East Jerusalem. Olmert is only now talking about defining Israel's final borders.