It would damage his public credibility amongst whom? How many Israelis are in favor of settlement expansion?
Thanks for posting, Netanyahu has really been getting on my nerves with this settlement moratorium. Stop being such a d-bag, there haven't been peace talks for years and now that they have a chance he isn't willing to give up anything for it. Israel needs to get its head out of its ass and realize without the US they are F%#KED. Israelis need to get it through their heads, as do the Palestinians, that for peace to prevail they have to sacrifice SOMETHING. Hopefully this time they won't sacrifice Lebanon. And for those of you who are in Austin and are interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is a lecture Monday at 6 in the UTC on the Israeli-Lebanon conflict of 05, which really is a Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Also, again to anyone at UT, a friend of mine is starting an organization to discuss with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, Lebanese, etc. what to do with Palestine and Israel. Should be very interesting, if any students would be interested in this, shoot me an email and I'll add your name to the list.
Take, take, take, and then offer some of it back and call it progress. And why not gently remind Israel that we could always reduce their foreign aid if they don't start making a good faith effort to work with Palestinians towards a more peaceful coexistence?
United States needs a friendly foothold in the middle east. Once the middle east runs out of oil, sh!ts gonna hit the fan.
You say he's not willing to "give anything up", but in reality it's more than that. Giving something up implies that you already own it. Not only is he not willing to give anything up, he is actually not willing to stop stealing land. It's akin to to a salesman who offers a product to you at $100 knowing that he is willing to come down to $25, but wants to milk you for favors till he comes down to that amount. It's ridiculous. How such actions are allowed to continue without international outrage is beyond me. This is a country which owns nuclear weapons and therefore must act in a responsible way. If this is what it takes for the state of Israel to exist, then it's not worth it, and I'm sure there are more and more Israelis who would agree with that. There is zero chance of peaceful co-existence as long as Israel is allowed to destrot the rights of Palestinians. My fear is that peaceful co-existence is far lower on Netenyahu's priority list than it is on mine. How sad and disgusting at the same time. Those settlers are almost terrorists, and it's time someone put them in their place. Much like Palestinian suicide bombers and missile attackers, those people are the scum of the earth IMO. Netenyahu's relative indifference towards their actions is inexcusable. Please start supporting Palestinians so that they can rid themselves of these internal and external enemies.
Netanyahu has just been a little tense lately with the latest Iranian death machine making the rounds. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8PYY8VC2Po4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8PYY8VC2Po4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
So what do you propose, Mathloom? Expel the Jews? Go back to the original mandate lines? Better question, how do you solve this without war? Is it possible to appease both groups, or are you even concerned with the Israeli side? Not that your comments are unreasonable, they are completely factual and I agree with you that Israel has been incredibly hypocritical and the US, and the world for that matter, hasn't shown they have the testicles to control what they are essentially responsible for creating through the UN. I think it comes down to this, the UN is weak, they can't control anything, but we at least have influence, we need to take more initiative in these peace talks. So far Obama has given Netanyahu the chance, and he appears to be declining. I hope Obama's next step is to show Israel we are serious about these talks and start penalizing them via aid. Israel has to realize we are essentially its only ally that can do anything. Your thoughts?
Frankly, I don't know, and I'm so open to any ideas. I think maybe the aid should have stopped going to Israel a long time ago. They are using it for all the wrong reasons. They are using it to be on the offensive, and I hope that's not why they are getting the aid. Right now, the UN and the US and everyone else have the power to accept Palestine as a state and I have no idea why Israel should have any input on the matter, just like Palestine had no input when Israel was officially declared a state, especially if Israel is not giving anything up. I'm NOT for eliminating Israel or expelling Israelis. I'm for eliminating the people on both sides who are against a fair solution. Alternatively, I'm for eliminating both Palestine and Israel and creating one state for all those people - that's the fairest solution, though probably the most impractical right now. One thing I do know for sure is that the settlers are essentially criminals and need to be treated as such. I don't understand why this is not a formality. They are wrecking the whole process, and are just a notch less criminal than the maniacs on the other side. Israeli PEOPLE and Palestinian PEOPLE want to get this overwith. The politicians are hijacking any chance of success. At the very least, US aid to Israel should be conditional upon the effort and sincerity the governments put into the success of the peace process. I don't know, is that fair? I'm losing hope honestly. I don't see a US government/president caring less about getting elected or re-elected than finding peace here. I'm not sure I can put it any other way than: the US candidates are enslaved to this arrangement. Is there another explanation that I'm completely ignoring?
They shouldn't be dealt with as criminals, they should simply be told that if they settle in Palestinian lands, they will become Palestinian citizens and not Israeli citizens. If they want to be in minority so be it, but Israel has spread themselves so far from the original mandate lines that there is no way to divide the territories on any normal lines. Palestinian populations are of course concentrated on the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza strip (which I assume they will want to keep for access to the Med), but I can't see Israel ever agreeing to this because it would most definitely sever their country in two, maybe they should border Lebanon in the north and curve below the Golan Heights to the Jordan River. This seems to drastic though, moving the populations from the south in Gaza to the North, plus that would piss of the Lebanese that are still upset about the Palestinians involvement in their political affairs for the last 60 years. Whatever happens, Israel needs to see that they have the most, therefore they will have to give the most, what do the Palestinians have to give? For the last 15 years they've struggled just to be recognized as a nation, yet alone secure their lands. I think people are almost afraid to speak out against Israel for fear of being called an anti-Semite. Similar to what the Jewish ownership or dominance in Hollywood, you can't talk about these things, even in a practical logical way without being accused of such ridiculousness. I hope Obama shows that we are serious about this situation being resolved. I think Peace with Israel means peace in the ME, Iran can't prey off of Palestinian emotions and terrorist groups can't cause as much strife. Oh, and to anyone who cares, that Israeli-Lebanese conflict lecture is at 3 not 6
I didn't say we shouldn't try. This is a family feud that goes back about 3500 years to the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. God promised both that they would be the father of great nations and has kept that promise. The future of the Middle East is spelled out in the Bible. There have been a lot of prophecies fulfilled and many more to come. We should definitely try to move towards peace in the Middle East, however Jesus is the only one who will actually accomplish it.
Actually there are some major wars that are supposed to happen and land distributed to certain people before some of these religions believe their saviour will come back...someone is trying.
With all due respect, it's exactly this kind of thinking that caused the problem in the first place. They were able to convince people of things like "this is meant to happen", and only God knows if they are even religious to begin with. Now the Hamas and Fatahs of the world are putting it to use. It's so nice of you to sit in your armchair wherever the hell you are and tell people that God meant for those Palestinians and Israelis to die and then Jesus to come back and resolve it. As if the lives of those people are worthless. Jesus PBUH is someone I respect very much and I find your characterization of him utterly insulting to everything he/He stood for. These are human beings. They may not be from your race, nationality or religion, but their lives are just as important as the Pope's life and a pastor's life and a nun's life and an Imam's life and a Rabbi's life. They're all human beings. They didn't die for Jesus PBUH to come back. They died in a war, caused by humans who made conscious choices. You must think it's all worth it because you believe Jesus PBUH will come back and fix it. What a terrible way to think about Jesus PBUH - that he wants people to get murdered before saving the day.
Most Israelis don't care either way. The ones that do care...they care a lot, and they form the constituency of a key party in Likud's coalition.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/10/04/west.bank.mosque.arson/index.html?hpt=T2 Vandals set fire to West Bank mosque Paging AroundTheWorld, paging AroundTheMFWorld Anyway, looks like the militants are rubbing off on the settlers.
