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Question
Please excuse my ignorance,
but why is it that the Hebrews no longer live in Israel/Palestine and means
they are fighting?
How did they get kicked out?
Dear Peter -
The Jews were never entirely exiled from the Land of Israel; there has been a continual Jewish presence there from Biblical times until the present. Parts of the Jewish population were exiled by the Babylonians, and then later by the Romans; but there were always Jews left.
Jews have lost political control over the Land of Israel and regained it several times throughout our long and rather bumpy history. The last loss of Jewish sovereignty was under the Romans, almost two thousand years ago; and the Jews regained sovereignty in 1948.
Obviously, this is only a very quick summary; to understand the history of this area in any depth, I'm afraid you'll have to read a book or two. If you're interested, ask a follow-up question and I can make a suggestion or two. I hope this answer was of some help, even though it's far from adequate.
Best regards,
-Don Radlauer
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Answers by Expert:
Don Radlauer
Expertise
I`m originally from the United States, and now make my home in Israel - after living for some years in Hong Kong and England. In addition to handling general questions about Israeli life and history, I can field questions relating to strategic aspects of terrorism and counter-terrorism, as well as some tactical aspects. As an Associate of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), I can draw on ICT`s accumulated expertise in this area. As the Lead Researcher for ICT`s "al-Aqsa Intifada" Database Project (and author of "An Engineered Tragedy", ICT`s report on the findings of this project), I have become the world`s leading expert (indeed, as far as I know, the world`s only expert) on the demographics of the victims of the phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that began in September 2000. Going beyond terrorism per se, I can answer questions regarding pretty much all aspects of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Experience
Experience in the area
I've lived in Israel for over eight years.
For more than five years, I have been associated with the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. My own role there is, to a degree, that of "expert in everything else" - that is, I'm less of a security expert than many of the other researchers there, but I have a broader background in other areas, including banking and finance, general scientific subjects, and so on. I also can draw upon the knowledge of other ICT staff.
Publications
ICT website, http://www.ict.org.il
My blog, "On the Contrary: Don's Mideast Musings" is at http://radlauer.blogspot.com .
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