<i>The population of Palestine at the start of the Zionist movement was 8% Jewish, by 1948 it was over 88%.</i>

Assuming that this statistic is correct, what would we expect from the resident non-Jewish population? Look at Europe and its fears of a Muslim invasion with a much lower percentage of such immigrants in the respective countries.

And how much of the desire to control the southern U.S. border is a fear of being swamped by immigrants of a different culture? Remember the Chinese Exclusion Act, or National Origins Act of 1924?

BC: you're entitled to your daft opinions, not your own facts. Try again, but err on the side of reality. Remember who rejected the Mandate, and that the UN has stated that in 1948, Israel was 68% Arab, 32% Jewish.

Michael - the statistic is nonsense. The UN Special Committee on Palestine (not known for pro-Israel views) produced the number I quote above.

This is LBloom's post so getting into your anti-Israel nonsense won't help him.

I'll accept the numerical correction, not the issue of the local population's fears, whether fomented or not.

As to the exodus of Palestinians:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus

If the last paragraph of that article is correct, Israel was not going to be welcoming and subsequent return.

correction: an<b>y</b> subsequent