'O Jerusalem!' by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

Some folks don't think the Jews should have a country, and that is a puzzlement to me.  'O Jerusalem!' by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre is the story of how the Jews founded the modern state of Israel in 1948 after the close of World War II and a failed but ambitious effort on the part of Nazi Germany to exterminate their race. Being now in my mid-30's, I think it's difficult for my generation and those younger than us to believe that a mere 40-years before I was born the Jews were homeless as a people. They were found in many if not most countries on Earth but lacked a country of their own to call home. Images and stories from the liberation of concentration camps shocked the conscience of the world, and undeniably contributed to a receptiveness regarding giving Palestine back to the Jews. The trouble with that plan, however, was that the land was occupied territory.