Hmm I'm getting somewhere with the history of this.
Check out 100 years worth of maps of the middle east .... http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gov46/

So Palestine goes from being Ottoman (Turkish) and pretty much the whole of the middle east until WW1, when Britain promises an independent Arab state covering most of the Middle East in exchange for support in the war, which went well, but ahem, then we get the British Mandate of Palestine which then gets split up by the poms, and bits get handballed around with the french between the wars,
with almost exactly what is now Israel being called Palestine from September 11!!!,1922. Jewish population is 11%.
Talk of a Jewish homeland builds, is encouraged by Britain and Jewish immigration from Europe begins skyrocketing. Major land ownership disputes with the locals lead to a violent Arab uprising and so the Brits trained up an elite Jewish military force.
Then WW2, everyone starts attacking everyone else, the Brits want to get out, 1945 Jewish pop. 31%.

Oodles of different proposals to share the space, 1947 the UN majority decides to split the space into two states (Australia couldn't decide and abstained:o ) roughly 50-50, despite the population inbalance. Jerusalem itself supposed to stay 'international' (British controlled). The Arabs are NOT happy with the carveup, and the killing starts.
Meanwhile the neighbouring Arab states have emerged from colonialism and been encouraged by Britain to form the Arab League, but they're militarily distinct and well varied in strength.
The Israelis have been planning ahead and buying up weapons big time, and training.
1948 Britain gets out. War really starts. The US and the Soviets both denounce the Arabs for 'invading'.
Israel gradually kicks arse and eventually gets most of the land, keeps Jerusalem, and we're left with only two Palestinian "settlements" at the extreme southwest (Gaza) and east(West Bank). Refugees all over from both sides. Reprisals all round.



It hasn't really got much better since then. And I reckon the Arabs got screwed out of their land pretty royally, and it wasn't just by the Jews, although they picked up the ball and ran with it given the chance. Some huge deceits by the West all the way through.
And every attempt by the Arabs to defend their turf gets labelled 'terrorism'.:mad: I dunno why they get explosive shirty.

*puts on best McEnroe
"You cannot be serious" :eek:
I cant think of a Wobbalie who would get in the NZ 1-2's squad never mind the team!

If anyone has a psych problem it's NZ cause they should be whipping all comers when it counts... eg. France, Australia.

Actually South Africa has a bigger player base, so given the potential for talent they should have far better to choose from.

What annoys me the most about ra ra is the current trend of puchasing league " talent " Wendell was rubbish, Rogers cant keep his ankle togeather, but Tuquiri is brilliant. that aside, it doenst look good for the future of the game at a club level when the ARU spends money hand over fist for league players, when dedicated rugby players have been busting thier asses, earning no where near the cash and staying loyal to the code only to be passed over for the next big experiment....

Johns is the classic example of this. good as he is in league, he would have been rubbish in Union.

I reckon he would have shown his class!
Lots of time at 5/8 in rara to pick his kicks and passes
His only problem might have been pace since he's getting on...still we'll never know :( !

HD, wheres your comments on the F1?
Odin, nothing to say on Motogp?
& i'm looking forward to thunders incisive commentary now we are getting into the alps!

F1 sucks. i only look for the results now. when they stop pit stop racing ill watch again.

MotoGP was pure sex. 4 guys fighting for it right to the end, last corner last lap stuff. things that MotoGP is just famous for these days. totaly awesome and a gerat win for Vale. hell im not even a Vale fan! grat to see Pedrosa and Hayden leaning on each other pretty hard. no love lost there!

v much looking fwd to the WSBK this weekend. go Bayliss!

2nd hand set of American Classics 420s $450. Are they worth it?

Good summation there bbw. It's all propaganda huh. Imperialism has never done anyone any good, except of course make Spain, Portugal, England and the US incredibly rich because of their waring plunderous ways. The height of irony is that we're (The West) the biggest terrorists of them all.

"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
-Noam Chomsky

Anyway.....what's the word on Verbrugge? Ooop....thank you cyclingnews, he's out with a well broken femur.

yellow gloves, yellow helmet, yellow bike... green everything, polka dot everything, when does it end.... Just wear the freakin' jersey you clowns !

Like in boxing...when do you reckon we'll start to see riders with those temporary tatoos on their legs advertising stuff? Thats a lot of real-estate going begging!
Especially if your are der kaiser:eek:

face paint?

And hey, the All Blacks resemble that remark. Then failure to deliver at World Cups plunges the populace into depression.

Only Cipo had the style to carry off the whole co-ordinated look. :D All others should respect the style king and cease trying to imitate him!!!

BTW... It makes for much better Monday at work when a parcel from PBK arrives....mmm new pedals:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Cqm...h=iron%20sheik

bwahahaha!

Was awesome. Looked like a 125cc race.

Pretty slack of you posting a pic of him on his skiing holiday:D

Nice Huffys! You can get those at your local K-mart ;)

hmmmmm. Looks like Sir Elton had a bigger influence on the peloton that i originally gave him credit for!

I used to have those JT sunnies.....in fluro yellow. :o :D

Oh, and those Huffys are probably Serottas I'd be guessing.

No-way.....?:rolleyes:

Looks steep enough for skiing anyway :)

I've gone right off the whole car racing thing, only watch the MotoGP these days, SBK I can take or leave but mostly leave. Although, that said, there was some mildly entertaining stuff about the Dutton Rally on Ch9 yesterday.

Too bad the 125's were on last and therefore clashed with the TdF coverage, 'coz I reckon that's the most enertaining racing these days although the tussle between Hayden and Pedrosa made for good viewing. Takahashi's dive past de Angelis on the last corner was pretty good too (in the 250's for those who may not recognise the names)

So is this an omen, an indication I have been eating too many pies or just practice for my crashing technique?

5 minutes before leaving my customer's site this afternoon the office chair I was sitting on broke and sent me sprawling aganist a bookshelf.

One benefit was that most of the staff there are women and they all came rushing and were fussing about wanting to know if I was OK :) I explained that after my recent experience at vehicular skittles and that crashing into the bookshelf was nothing :p

Hey Expat would you trust Maurice enough to buy a second hand set of wheels?
Im factoring in that I would need to replace the bearings.

Nice perm! :D

.....reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated! :D.....No sense of humour, seppo's!....I have plenty more to say on the subject but I'm scared of xenophobic fascists!....(especially while the tour is on!)