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It's Passover once again, Thank G-d! I always say a special prayer of thanks when I first realize that I'm alive for another Passover - it's my favorite of the holidays.

So, anyway, here I am, thinkin' about this and that, and one of my main thoughts as the 14th of Nisan draws nigh is: Jerusalem. It's been in the news the past weeks (when is it *not* in the news) and I've been spending time, researching, learning, absorbing what I can. And the more I study, the more I keep returning to this question: Why does the global community not use the historical record when they measure the rights of the Hebrew people to maintain Jerusalem as their own?

I'm not indifferent to the Palestinians, and I empathize with the story of their Diaspora. But if you look at Jerusalem through the long lens of history, if you examine the science of the archaeology of that land, you can't possibly deny that the Jews have been treated with monumental injustice. (And if you want to argue this point, please give a thorough read to, at the very least, the Wikipedia entry for Jerusalem.)

Again, I get what's happening now, and I have no issue with other inhabitants of Israel being granted legitimacy, aid, and other basic human rights. But fair is fair - the land wasn't devoid of people previous to 1948. How many times have the Jews been overtaken? Go back to 1200 BCE, start looking at the empirical evidence with an unjaundiced eye, and see if you can't bring yourself to empathize with folks who want Israel to get what they are owed: freedom and fairness.