There is a saying that goes: "Be careful what you wish for, for you may get it." This has been Israel's dilemma from the very beginning.
The Zionist movement, which held its first conference in Basel, Switzerland, 120 years ago, wanted Palestine but not the Palestinians. It achieved this objective 50 years later, in what Israel termed as its "war of independence." In 1947-1948, the Palestinian homeland was captured, but millions of Palestinians were cruelly evicted following a harrowing war and many massacres.
That dynamic was not at work when the rest of historic Palestine was occupied during the 1967 War.