There's a good short history of israel here
www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm

with lots of links in it

The jewish claim to israel is probably akin to Italians claiming England because it used to be part of the Roman Empire
( CanonCaliber A big bore, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:40, archived)

Not really,
it's more like the Scots claiming Scotland.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:43, archived)

I have a friend
who can enumerate and explain the evidence proving the Welsh are the lost tribe of Israel. It's almost touching.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:50, archived)

There's a charming Irish folk story
about how the Irish language is an attempted reconstruction of Humanity's original language from before the Tower of Babel incident, by an Irish builder who had worked on the project.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:55, archived)

Rastafarians claim the same
I reckon they should fight it out.
( wotofco pissing in your swimming pool, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:58, archived)

Nobody lived in scotland before the Scots
Israel was populated by non-jews before the first israeli tribes conquered it
( CanonCaliber A big bore, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:50, archived)

Picts and Britons lived there before the Scots.
Canaanites lived in Israel before the Israelites, fair enough, but just like Picts, they no longer exist as a people, so we can hardly put them back. The Arabs, on the other hand, only have a claim on the region after invading it in the 7th century.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:53, archived)

One of the problems of history is defining a people by the name of it's rulers
A group of people and their descendants are known by different names throughout history according to the name of their rulers of the time
also many different peoples transform into new peoples through migration, invasion, and inter-marriage
( CanonCaliber A big bore, Sat 16 May 2009, 15:10, archived)

What the fuck has that got to do with it?
You're just trying to obfuscate the issue now in a vain attempt to not look stupid.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sat 16 May 2009, 15:14, archived)

Who put the ram In the rama lama ding dong?

( wotofco pissing in your swimming pool, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:55, archived)

Yes they did
the Scots came over from Ireland. Places like Skara Brae are pre-Celtic.

And the Arabs were fairly late on the scene in Israel.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:56, archived)

Not really
unless the Romans had built their most sacred religious temple in Dorking.
( wotofco pissing in your swimming pool, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:43, archived)

Israel means 'promised land'.
What with all the bombings and so-forth, they've got really, really low standards, don't you think?
(rnuk http://flickr.com/rnuk, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:47, archived)

My mum used to say "and that's not a threat, it's a promise"
when she was telling me off.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:48, archived)

... and was then granted to Italy by a UN resolution in the 40s.
Italy having been overrun with Yugoslavians, and Italians living in a large diaspora over much of Europe, with several hundred thousand remaining in England after the fall of the Empire.

An excellent analogy, and one I hope to see Peter Snow using on Newsnight soon.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:48, archived)

Actually,
you *may* have an analogy if it were the Italians claiming Romania.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Sat 16 May 2009, 14:49, archived)