Though I suppose it is, it just seems odd given how long ago it was. It actually touches on the issue that I think is too often ignored in European discussions of Israel and Palestine: I still think the whole reason modern Israel exists has less to do with Zionist conspiracies and more to do with an attempt to export "the Jewish Question" and be rid of it once and for all. Of course, when European nations and nationals decide to weigh in on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict they aren't really rid of it at all, are they? There seems to be some trouble recognizing the root problem: An attempt to expiate guilt over anti-semitism by simply exporting all the Jews to a recreated Israel created new guilt for having displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians already living there. But having "done right" by the Jews it seems like many people are willing to completely ignore their own nations role in recreating Israel as they criticize what Israel subsequently did. Meanwhile the same parochial patronizing attitudes that caused intervention (and hence a lot of current problems) continues apace.

All of which leads me back to my own old view: Neither Europe nor the US is responsible for the millennia of conflict between Jews and Arabs, or Israelis and Palestinians, it's not our responsibility to resolve it and we keep getting a mountain of grief for trying, so why not just get the hell out and let them go back to happily killing each other like they've been doing since before any of our native countries existed?