Israeli map and arab land

Both the nytimes and washpost have prominent articles on the private ownership of land on which many Israeli settlements are located. Reading it does not bring up any sympathies for the Palestinians. Reason? The war of 1948 and 1967 was first started by the arab countries, not Israel. Whatever Israel did in those wars was to protect its people. Since it was the palestinians and arabs who started the wars and lost it, they cannot demand the same spoils as the victor. Israel seized the land in the war and kept it for itself because it wanted a buffer against any future aggression. Israel gave up Gaza but the results haven't been good. It had hoped that the palestinians would be appeased but no, Hamas and its cronies have turned it into a hellhole with their rocket attacks and terrorist actions against Israel. After Lebanon, Israel would be very foolhardy to give up any land, whoever it historically belongs to.

 

I'm not sure why nytimes and washpost have such prominent articles on this issue. Peace Now is a discredited extreme-leftist organization in Israel and they are biting the hand that feeds it.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/world/middleeast/21land.html

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100482.html