Quote Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny
Lets look at the issue from another angle.

Did the slaves live on land in the south? When the south lost should they have been given the land they lived on?
Yes* the slaves should've been given the land, and in some cases they were given land only to have it confiscated at a later date. I don't think the example of how ex-slaves were sold out, should be used as a model for anything.

Why should jews who never lived in the middle east be allowed to emigrate there and displace people who already lived there? Shouldn't they have displaced the people who oppressed them during WW2?

Quote Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny
If I rent a house from a man he he defaults on his mortage does that make it mine?
No, because when you rent a house from a man you sign a legal contract, IIRC slaves did not sign legal contracts.

*I'm not in favor reperations, but in the period following the Civil War I would've been in favor of compensating ex-slaves for their un-paid labor.