So happy you mentioned that...
Historical claims don't mean much.
The reason for that is twofold,and I'll try to explain myself as nicely as I can. Firstly, the trouble is that history, in the majority of cases, is written by the victor or survivor. The image we have of Native Americans has been dictated by the colonialists and can't really be refuted because there's not a native American around anymore to refute anything. So there's a generally accepted narrative that has become the norm, and anyone who challenges that narrative is discredited, because people don't like their world view rocked.
This works similarly with the Naqba. Whether there were 2, 24, 200 or 2000 massacres in the British Mandate of Palestine is not the discussion here. What is the discussion is that before 1948, every Zionist that has ever written down anything has so much as said that the Palestinians needed to be displaced to make way for the purely Jewish state, and after 1948, history has been written by the victor. This narrative is so ingrained in the Jewish population of Israel that a challenge of that narrative has explosive consequences. So the narrative completely sidesteps the actual fact that people were evicted and should have the right under all kinds of international law and covenants on the treatment of humans to return to their original property.
And it goes deeper than that, because the narrative that accompanies the above has also conjured up the image of the wandering Jew that returns home. Now I am fairly convinced that if you put a number of Jewish people in one room, one Ethiopian, one Russian, one Polish, one Dutch, one American, one Indian, one Turkish, one Moroccan and one Yemenite, you will see the argument that this is "one people" by blood destroyed. The Ethiopians and Europeans are converts, which has been documented, and even the Middle Eastern and Arabic Jews have seen conversion waves back and forth through history. Dude, it's *just* a religion. And don't say Hitler disagreed, because as we all know that bloke was a wanker and a nut job.
So, explain to me what claim an Ethiopian, Russian, Pole, Dutchman, Indian and American can make on Palestine? To my mind the only Jewish people that may lay any claim to this strip of land are the Mizrahi. They are locals to the region. You can see it in their faces, their culture and their behaviour.
The second reason historical claims are nonsense and poppycock is because Judaism is relatively young. It digs it's own grave. Monotheism only arose as society moved away from hunting, gathering and nomadic tribalism into a more agricultural and urbane society. Even so, various pagan and polytheist faiths hung in there for a long, long time. The area now known as Israel has always been under the influence of the ancient Egyptians, and the kingdoms of Judea and Israel have only existed ever so briefly around 900-700 BCE. The Egyptians and Mittani ruled to where now the border of Israel and Lebanon are. The Lebanese were under the Anatolian Mittani sphere, while until at least 1200 BCE, what is now Israel was an Egyptian province. These maps demonstrate my point quite well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Near_East_1400_BCE.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amarnamap.png
If you then really want to claim ownership of Israel based on the first non-nomadic society recorded there, you ought to give the place to Egypt, which is the only truly ancient society in the region. Hell, even the Torah says Abraham came from Ur between the Eufrate and Tigris, which makes him a Babylonian or Iraqi at best. Even the original father of the tribes was an immigrant to the region according to the definitive guidebook, not so?
What you say about the crime of displacing the newly immigrated Jews from Palestine in 1947 might indeed hold true. But that does not mean that a population of 35% can just displace 65% of the population and claim all of their land, possessions and strip away their rights as human beings. Let's argue the moral thing would have been to create a mixed state of Jews and Palestinians in which the pie was shared. To be honest, that would have been quite generous of the locals. Think about it: We are 17 million Dutch. How do you think things would go if suddenly the 4 million Palestinians, currently a people without a country, after all, would walk into the Netherlands and claim 25% of this land? Would we accept this?
Quite honestly, I really do believe that you will never know peace unless Israel's political system would own up to and take responsibility for the Naqba. It has to be from that point that peace talks with Palestinians depart.
Furthermore, I am longing for the day when Israeli's wake up and realize that talking about the world in terms of "Demographic Threats" or "Demographic Problems" is morally bankrupt. Any Zionist from Herzl and Ben Gurion to Olmert and Netanyahu talk about "Demographic problems" if the non-Jewish population becomes more than 20% of Israel. The fact that people speak in terms of "Demographic threats" in Israel is not only morally bankrupt but also an indication of the inherent racism nine out of ten Israeli's display. On top of that it really highlights the fact that it is an inherently undemocratic system.
Honestly: What if your children decide to become atheist? What then? What if intermarriages happen? And immigration from other countries? Israel wants to be walled up behind barbed wire and not let the rest of the world in? Have you even considered that this will cause health problems? Because inbreeding is already an issue amongst the Ashkenazi, so I predict if you do that for 500 years, your abortion rates will skyrocket or you will be stuck with an awful lot of folks with various physical and mental disabilities that are related to a limited gene pool.
To cut a long story short, on any longer term plan the attitude is simply unsustainable for a number of pragmatic and psychological reasons. I don't say this for my benefit, because I live in a rich, pluralistic and inherently free society. I just wish Israel would get on board with that notion too.
As far as that meeting is concerned, I don't know if I would be welcome. Some people have indicated I am a monster.
However, you are completely welcome to a beer, coffee or arbitrary beverage with me if you like. I don't mind at all, I live in Emmeloord. You're welcome. Asian food in Amsterdam would also work.