one thing is hard for me to understand- according to Genesis 15 verse 18, the promised land includes Sinai. now, in the declaration of independence, there wanst any religious claim of the land; there were historical claims, moral, natural and so on, but not because Eretz Israel is our promised land. its very hard for me to understand it, because G-d and religion are the basics of being Jewish. i think thats the reason for our government to always return land to the arabs. keeping the promised land has never been a formal moivation of settling Israel. even the settlements in Gaza and West Bank- the settlers wanted to keep the promised land, but the government only saw them as a "bargain tool" for future agreements of "peace" for Jewish land.