1.
Hem, Hem! zionism does NOT equalize judaism with race. How funny it is to hear that from someone. Zionism equall judaism with nationality and culture. Of course, a main key of culture is religeon, yet if one would check the real figures, he would see that not only palestinians and jews live hear. We are not the state of the jewish race, but a the state of all its people, identified with the majority culture. Just like Germant, just like Poland, just like France and just like britain. In order to check how close I am, read the israeli declare of independence. It talks about an historical and traditional bond, and its religieos ideas are relating to culture. Never a racial one. There were zionist communist parties that signed the paper... how the hell the "All man are equal" idealogy would sit with what ones are implying on this thread?
And to think someone would equalize Zionism with race...
2.
Israel wasn't intended by the first Zionists to become such a big and independent state. The 1920, 1929 and 1936-1939attacks on jews (whether zionists or not) and the support of the mufti of Nazism were those that created the shift in the zionist opinion, showing that arabs are not quite willing to except any post-1917 jewish presence. Only after that, we can see signs of zionist agression, and that is when the whole country is invaded by seven arab armies, and swept by a bloody civil war! 1% percent of the population died during that war, after more than 50% of the people died in europe during that time (actually, I'm quite exagerating here, since the holocaust count includes only europeon jews).
Only pascifists can stand aside at such times.
3. How can people really ask to respin the wheel back? Wouldn't it be quite hipocrit (sp?) to resend 6 milion people, inter-married from many countries, some 3rd and 4th and 5th generation, all with history of being persecuted in their former residence, back to the world?
Or on the other hand, have those people finance (since Israel has developed an advanced social program) 6 milion palestinians, who were educated on hatred towards jews (not equasion to zionism here, it's just that Hamas iis using sacreligeos ideas, and it is the financial force behind most schools) after they have strived so much for national definition?
4. Some might say - "you're right, but the palestinians did suffer a lot and most of the time it was not their fault. They had no hand or leg in antisemitism in europe and imigration-cut in the U.S that led to the jewish imigration into Israel/Palestine".
They would be right, yet any solution besides the two-state one will bring harder problems into the equasion, and that is without reminding that israel is very highly populated. add 3 milion poor and historicly abused pals. in...
Let me quote Sari Nuseiba, a left-winged palestinian, on this issue:
"..Some refer to the right of return as a palestinian dream. It is one. It is a dream of living the quite life without western presence ever near us, and like most dreams, it is not possible. My dream is to get to a better position. A position from which we can go ahed, start a better life and not look backwards blindly ever again".
5.
One who knows about judaism not only from one type of sources, would know that the Talmud (free translation - Eductat) is a waffle of disagreements. Though the Halacha goes by the majority of the Poskim (Halacha = De yure, Poskim = deciders, again, my translation), the minority opinion is not erased and can be used as a takdim (a base on law decisions). There is such thing as religious Zionism, since some biblical ideas can match that activist approach after all.
Being a little studied of torah, Halacha and religious approaches, I can really not see a way to decide "THAT is the real jewish approach!" and be overly calm about it. But I'm naturally an agnost, so it's hard to tell
6. Israel IS NOT a sac-religious state! It's a state relying mostly on religious culture, so religieon plays an important role about its social and sovereign values (for example, we support yeshivas, we only give kosher food at goverment-financed places like the I.D.F, the flag has a religious symbol, etc, etc..), yet only 15% of the public are ultra-orthodox, There is no serious intervention from the state into the public life (only the closure of some places during Yom kipur, and forbidding to sell on streets outside of a busnees non kosher food during pesah).
That doesn't sound like a sac-religious state to me. It is like saying that "In god we trust" written on the franklins might imply that the U.S is sac-religious, and though critical as you may be about the U.S, Fundamental is not a word to use there.
I will agree, though, that sac-religious groups are some of Israel's greater supporters, and most of its financial supporters.