Arab Spring

[randolph]

In many parts of the world, as Ila points out, people move from one place to another, occupying other peoples land. Usually, the occupier merges with the occupied. The Spanish merged with the Aztecs and other groups in the new world. When the Jews took over a part of Palestine, they did not do this, they did not merge into the existing population. Most of the existing population was expelled. The surrounding countries would not accomodate them, consequently they, the Palestinians, became refugees. The Nazis purged Germany of Jews and other ethnic groups and the Israelis have done much the same thing, purging Israel's lands of non Jews.
It is very problematic that the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust would have been willing to accomodate the Muslims residing in the lands taken over by the Jewish refugees.
Peoples of radically different religious beliefs can live in harmony together as long as an agitator does not inflame intolerance in one group. The US, Europe and Indonesia are some examples.
We will never know whether the Jews and the Muslims could have lived in harmony in a Palestinian state.
I think it can be shown historically that when groups mix together, a synergy is produced that makes the population innovative and dynamic. Look at the US and Canada for example. Of course Muslims and Jews can never mix together, or could they?