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Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/361594_israel04.html
Few Nations Can Claim the Same Legitimacy as Israel
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer] David Brumer - For some in academia, the media and even the UN, Israel's very "Right to Exist" is considered a subject for legitimate debate. It's ironic, since few nations can claim the kind of historic legitimacy and connection to a place as can the Jewish people. For more than 3,000 years, Jews have been spiritually as well as corporeally bonded to the Land of Israel. In 1921, Winston Churchill proclaimed, "It is manifestly right that the Jews, who are scattered all over the world, should have a national center and a national home. And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?" Israel has said yes to virtually every partition plan put forth in modern times while the Palestinians have said no. In 2000 Israel offered the Palestinians more than 96% of the West Bank and all of Gaza; the Palestinian response was a terror war unleashed against the Jewish state. The world might better applaud the miracle of Israel's rebirth in its tiny ancestral land as a model of decency, tolerance and intellectual vibrancy, for these are the true criteria of legitimacy.