Comment trail:

@ The New Republic: Norman Finkelstein hosted by the UN

@ The Spine: Obama's Seder

@ The Spine: Asperger's Syndrome as legitimate argument about Israel

@ Mick's: Captivated by Politics

@ Jonathan Chait: Scatology as political punditry

@ TNR: Washington Diarist: Showdown

Memorable quote from one commenter:

The Arab peoples, one language, a shared culture, have millions upon millions of square miles of the planet. The differences between Palestinian Arabs and the rest of the Arab world are probably less than the differences between New Yorkers and Texans. If, somehow, Native Americans were to be given the eastern half of Long Island for a sovereign state, do you suppose one could claim that the American Long Islanders who ended up relocating to western Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the rest of the American continent could justly claim that they had been given only crumbs? Is it not the case that "Palestinians" are the overwhelming majority in Jordan? How did they come to be there? They are not migrants from the west or refugees from Israel. Aren't they indeed the very same people who occupy the West Bank and Gaza? Then is it not apparent that Jordan too is part of the Palestinian patrimony? How does that not get counted?

It is the Jews in Israel who have had to accept less than all of what is rightfully theirs. And it is only by reference to the political borders of the Jews, now and historically, that Palestinian Arabs can be described as being left with anything other than their share of the vast Arab territory. This is but another example of Moslems claiming the religious, historical, and geographical heritage of others and then taking great offense if those others don't concur. I look forward to Turkey returning Hagia Sophia to the Eastern Orthodox Christians. Don't you?

I quite agree that it is unacceptable that the Palestinians should remain a subject people, but the idea that they are prospectively forced to accept "crumbs" because they too cannot have everything they want is just silly. There are many smaller and denser states, and, if the Palestinians would take advantage of their adjacency to Israel, they could quickly enjoy the highest standard of living in the Arab world. They are going to have to give up their revanchist ambitions sooner or later, because Israel is not going anywhere.