French FM: Dubai killing proves need for a Palestinian state

Radicalism and zealotry often blind their victims. Consequently you seemingly missed the fact that the entire international community agrees with the French FM. The Dubai assassination, if Israel carried it out, was not an act of self defense. It was done to preserve and perpetuate Israels illegal 42-year occupation of Palestinian territory Such acts are conducted to kill active resistance to the continued oppression of occupied people. The solution: end the occupation; form a sovereign Palestinian state. Radicalism and zealotry also possibly obscured your observation of the current policy position of Hamas on the issue of peace. Khaled Meshal stated in 2009 that Hamas would accept a Palestinian state, based on 1967 borders, and is willing to negotiate permanent peace with Israel.

Bobby, you are terribly confused: no stolen land? On 14 May 1948, Israel declared statehood under UN resolution 181. Part II of 181 delineated in meticulous detail the boundaries of the territory over which Israel would have sovereignty in Palestine. The remainder was to be Arab land. After 48 war, Jordan occupied WB and Jerusalem and Egypt, Gaza. Jordan annexed the WB. In 1967, Israel took the rest of Palestine, all of it. The Pals had no opportunity to declare a state, for the same reason they didn't in 1966, and cannot do so now. Their land is and was occupied: illegally since 1967.There were ancestors of the Palestinian people on the land before the Israelites entered Canaan, also known at the time as Palestine. After the 1967 war, the UN demanded Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territory. Israel refused, and stayed, in violation of numerous UN resolutions, a violation of international law. If the land wasn't stolen, is English your first language?

Oslo died because Arafat refused to keep up with his end of the deal, refusing to amend the PLO Covenant, failing to remove the clause that called for the destruction of Israel, as he agreed to do at Oslo No wonder your website failed, you simply can't get your "facts" straight, and people realized it

Hey, the US just killed the 2nd in command of the Taliban, so let's give the Taliban a state. Why is it that the US can go into Afghanistan and Pakistan and take out the Taliban but Israel cannot do anything for her security against Hamas, who are continuously plotting to wipe out Israel? Give me a break.

...bravo. "...a Palestinian state should be created with the genuine goal to mitigate the consequences of the creation of Israel." Yep. Not only that, the resistance melts after that, and Iran's aspirations and any arguments that other groups make about Israel's colonialism will evaporate. Win win win, all around. The problem is, Israel wants it all, see the Likud Charter.

...over the years you have looked deeply into the roots of the conflict, you have kept up with current events, it is evident that you have gone far and wide to gain a great knowledge of viewpoints and laws and realities around the planet and InterWeb and you have synthesized all that into coherent and appropriate comments everyday. You are every bit as important a truth teller as Gideon and Amira and others who are firmly committed towards Israel having a moral and safe future rather than the alternative that sadly seems to be here, right now. I wish you the very best of luck and wish to thank you for your fine commentary over the years. May an alternate future appear on the horizon so you can continue, but the way things are going, one of the next steps when the vast new "PR" campaign fizzles, comments will probably be banned by the Israeli government.

Those who argue against declaring the establishment of a Palestinian state on grounds that it will cause a Midlle East unrest, should be reminded that the creation of the state of Israel in the midst of the Arab world, and with great injustice to the Palestinians, has created an unrest in the Midlle East with which the entire world had to live since 1948. That is not to say that this seminal event ought to be undone. On the contrary- a Palestinian state should be created with the genuine goal to mitigate the consequences of the creation of Israel.

The French took a hand in creating both of those. everybody can vote but the govenment structure remains fixed. In some sense the Lebanese formula might be usable. The Jews get a permanent majority in the Knesset and permanent control of the military. Arabs get the presidency, and half of the cabinet appointments. however, the cabinet appointments are rotated every 3 years between the Jews and the Arabs. Land can be owned by anyone with money. The death penalty becomes mandatory for any murder, motivated or not.

what are you smoking that makes you believe that anyone thinks that anything you say is of any importance? For someone that's never been there, you sure write a lot of nonsense

That's why your website flunked out and you with it Time you learned to lay down, roll over and play dead You must really be in a pathetic state of despair if you have to seek attention on a Jewish webwsite

Pappe and Shlaim. "Iam not a seeker of truth".Pappe would be about your standard. WIKIPEDIA "Benny Morris is fiercely critical of Ilan Pappé's book A History of Modern Palestine[30] for The New Republic.[31] Morris called Pappé's book "truly appalling." He says it subjugates history to political ideology, and "contains errors of a quantity and a quality that are not found in serious historiography."" Shlaim lecturer in International relations NOT history and never was an accademic historian.

There is not a Palestine, at the moment, so if "Assassination is not a means of action in international relations", what was the other nation involved in the relationship with Israel? If one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, then no nation has a right to go after anyone. including Osama bin-Laden. If it is, however, okay to go after bin-Laden, then Mahmoud al-Mabhouh is also a legitimate target. What I really don't get, however, is why killing him suddenly has convinced Kouchner that the Palestinians need a state of their own. There are plenty of good reasons to establish a Palestinian state, with internationally recognized borders, living in peace with its neighbors, but Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's death is probably the least of them.

is preferable regardless of this assassination , but there is nobody to Govern that state , no untainted talents available , no precedents of any remotely normally functioning Arab societies to emulate . Nobody in the world needs another failed state , dependent and terror producing one . This is well taken and understood , tacitly , by all Palestinian factions and every other Arab leaders who are the most scared of a new terror entity on their borders . And this is the main reason for putting every obstacle possible toward the establishment of that state . Is this statement politically incorrect ? Perhaps , but it is the naked truth . Everyone knows it , few dare to say it .

So what? One terrorist less. If Mossad was involved, congratulations!

... and petrol will be added to the fire & pulling down the pillars will bring the roof on the heads of those who will started the new state ! The middle east, as if needs another reason to explode. Imposing a state on a state, will only turn into a 'supper intifatha'. It will never create a palestinian state. it will make the holy land into a savage unholy ground ! If that what the EU wants exactly that it is what the whole world will have. A protracted war. A war that will engulf more than israel & the palestinians ! Oil will be part of it & smuggling arms of all kind will be there too .. Wait for dooms day made in The European Community !

Last week Dubai police said they have arrested 2 palestinians. That was all they said, what happened are they released or are still being held.

If I would continue in line with your comments I would state that all the houses in Europe taken from the original inhabitants/owners, the Jews, who were taken to slaughter camps by the nazis, should be returned to the rightfull owners and their families, including the land and belongings, some museums would have to empty their walls and many nouveau riche Europeans would be poor rats, and the banks would be falling apart too. Now that would be a glorious day for European Jews, right Keith?!!!!

The lesson from the Dubai killing: Don't create terror states!

If recent history show us anything, it is that the world needs to do the exact opposite of what France recommends. They have never met an aggressor they haven't knuckled under to in short order. If France had been the model, all Europe would be speaking German today.

It may come as a shock to Israel baiters, but law and morality consist largely of principles of general applicability, not just applicable to some group or state you want to single out. For starters, then, carving out the borders of nation states in modern Europe from the death of old empires led repeatedly to ethnic cleansing and genocide (Lieberman, Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe, 2006, p. xi ). Today, "some Europeans inhabit the very apartments and houses vacated by refugees during previous waves of flight, population transfer, and ethnic cleansing" (ibid., p. 329). All ethnic cleansing in Europe should be reversed, right? That'll work.

Otherwise a non-sequitur. This Mahmoud Mabhouh was a brutal thug. If he is a leader than one can only shudder in horror at what the powers of a state would be used for. Or one could just notice how Syria and Iran in no way stand out as totalitarian nightmares.

The arab world needs an enlightenment.The Iranians,though not arabs,want that.The way to democracy is not through giving in to the totalitarians.The way to democracy if defeating the totalitarians. Democracy I agree is imperfect.It is a work in progress and in that way knows its faults but the totaliatrians think what they have is perfect or even devine.This IS the problem. The arab people can blame Israel all they want for their woes but their woes are brought by their own systems. All those romantics who side with them are just champagne dreamers. The reality is the work thats needed to develop the world free from these despots and tyrants.Its much easier to blame Israel. I am not a right winger and dont care for likud but I understand the reality.

The answer is simple. All those who have moved in the last sixty years should return from whence they came. Jews from Russia and America should go back there. And Arabs displaced by the formation of Israel and its expansion since should be allowed to return home. The border between Israel and Palestine should be where the UN said it should be in 1947.

Of course a Palestinian state should be established in order to resolve the long lasting conflict with the Arabs. This is (at long last) is recognized by Netanyahu himself, although not by his Likud members (and being a weak leader, he does not work to convince them of this). But the person assassinated was a Hamas official, not an Abbas official. Gaza is not under the control of of Abbas and may not be affected by a peace that Netanyahu will arrange (which I can't believe him capable of doing). What should happen is that an(other) Israeli government should negotiate peace with Abbas, then Israel goes into Gaza to root out Hamas and hand over the territory to Abbas to run. Then let peace take its course.

Netanyahu and Lieberman are turning out to be the perfect match.

You need to work on the Ivrit a bit. Or better still, go back to where you came from.

Israel has no borders either. It redraws its borders regularly and none of them correspond to what the world thought were Israel's borders. Palestine will then be free to do the same. Will that be worse than the status quo? Can anything be worse than status quo? I can see it now... Jerusalem will be within the borders of both, so will much of the West Bank, and if that's the way things have to go, both countries will eventually be able to claim from the river to the sea. Or do you think we Israelis should copyright the idea of borderless countries once and for all and demand royalties?

Hello #85 ; you say "france has a very funny way of working in international relations". Don't you think that killing people abroad is also a "very funny way" for international relations ?

It is impossible to seperate soldiers from civilians when a people do not have a country.Ive always thought that was a good enough reason to create a Palestinian state. A state has to be responsible and when there is a state the targets are obvious and legitimate. But it isnt for Israel to create a Palestinian state,it is for the Palestinians to be responsible enough to be worthy of a state. They have chosen not to build but rather tear down. The people that murdered the athletes in Munich are deserving of a state?

Read the Washington Declarations signed by Israel---Rabin---and Jordan. Do try to keep up with events that happened 17 years ago. Israel agreed that Jordan had passed it,s sovereignity over the West Bank to "THE PALESTINIANS". By the way Eitan---do you teach your children that theft is legal. Do they know they live on stolen property.

Take a look at statements made by successive Israeli leaders beginning in 1936--long before 5 so called Arab Armies attcked Israel. Then to get you up to the present,take a look at the Likud Charter---and tell me wheere within its accepts a Palestinian State west of the Jordan river. Over to you arch apologist and spin doctor. "As it will be demonstrated below, the decision by the Zionist leadership to accept the 1947 proposed UN GA Partition plan was nothing but a smoke screen, which was done solely to gain international recognition and support. This deception was a political ploy to gain initial international legitimacy for the existence of the "Jewish state", and this was well known to the Palestinian people. The reader is urged to contemplate the following Zionist leaders' quotes in an open mind. Note that most, if not all, of the quotes below are dated before the entry of any single Arab Army into British Mandated Palestine: * In a letter Chaim Weizmann sent to the Palestine-British high Commissioner, while the Peel Commission was convening in 1937, he stated: "We shall spread in the whole country in the course of time ..... this is only an arrangement for the next 25 to 30 years." (Expulsion Of The Palestinians, p. 66) * Ben-Gurion emphasized that the acceptance of the Peel Commission would not imply static borders for the future "Jewish state". In a letter Ben-Gurion sent to his son in 1937, he wrote: "No Zionist can forgo the smallest portion of the Land Of Israel. [A] Jewish state in part [of Palestine] is not an end, but a beginning ..... Our possession is important not only for itself ... through this we increase our power, and every increase in power facilitates getting hold of the country in its entirety. Establishing a [small] state .... will serve as a very potent lever in our historical effort to redeem the whole country." (Righteous Victims, p. 138) * In 1938, Ben-Gurion made it clear of his support for the "Jewish state" on part of Palestine was only as a stepping ground for a complete conquest. He wrote: "[I am] satisfied with part of the country, but on the basis of the assumption that after we build up a strong force following the establishment of the state--we will abolish the partition of the country and we will expand to the whole Land of Israel." (Expulsion Of The Palestinians, p. 107 & One Palestine Complete, p. 403) * One day after the UN vote to partition Palestine, Menachem Begin, the commander of the Irgun gang and Israel's future Prime Minister between 1977-1983, proclaimed: "The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for Ever." (Iron Wall p. 25) * ""Shamir has said Israel must keep the territories in order to accommodate the immigrants. "A great aliyah [immigration]," he said, "requires a Greater Israel."(5) He has insisted that, although Soviet Jews are not being directed to the territories, any Jew has the right to live anywhere in the land of Israel, which for most Israelis includes the territories.

Take a look at statements made by successive Israeli leaders beginning in 1936--long before 5 so called Arab Armies attcked Israel. Then to get you up to the present,take a look at the Likud Charter---and tell me wheere within its accepts a Palestinian State west of the Jordan river. Over to you arch apologist and spin doctor. "As it will be demonstrated below, the decision by the Zionist leadership to accept the 1947 proposed UN GA Partition plan was nothing but a smoke screen, which was done solely to gain international recognition and support. This deception was a political ploy to gain initial international legitimacy for the existence of the "Jewish state", and this was well known to the Palestinian people. The reader is urged to contemplate the following Zionist leaders' quotes in an open mind. Note that most, if not all, of the quotes below are dated before the entry of any single Arab Army into British Mandated Palestine: * In a letter Chaim Weizmann sent to the Palestine-British high Commissioner, while the Peel Commission was convening in 1937, he stated: "We shall spread in the whole country in the course of time ..... this is only an arrangement for the next 25 to 30 years." (Expulsion Of The Palestinians, p. 66) * Ben-Gurion emphasized that the acceptance of the Peel Commission would not imply static borders for the future "Jewish state". In a letter Ben-Gurion sent to his son in 1937, he wrote: "No Zionist can forgo the smallest portion of the Land Of Israel. [A] Jewish state in part [of Palestine] is not an end, but a beginning ..... Our possession is important not only for itself ... through this we increase our power, and every increase in power facilitates getting hold of the country in its entirety. Establishing a [small] state .... will serve as a very potent lever in our historical effort to redeem the whole country." (Righteous Victims, p. 138) * In 1938, Ben-Gurion made it clear of his support for the "Jewish state" on part of Palestine was only as a stepping ground for a complete conquest. He wrote: "[I am] satisfied with part of the country, but on the basis of the assumption that after we build up a strong force following the establishment of the state--we will abolish the partition of the country and we will expand to the whole Land of Israel." (Expulsion Of The Palestinians, p. 107 & One Palestine Complete, p. 403) * One day after the UN vote to partition Palestine, Menachem Begin, the commander of the Irgun gang and Israel's future Prime Minister between 1977-1983, proclaimed: "The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for Ever." (Iron Wall p. 25) * ""Shamir has said Israel must keep the territories in order to accommodate the immigrants. "A great aliyah [immigration]," he said, "requires a Greater Israel."(5) He has insisted that, although Soviet Jews are not being directed to the territories, any Jew has the right to live anywhere in the land of Israel, which for most Israelis includes the territories.

by Chinkin who said Israel has no right to self defense,then had the hide to go ahead and be part of the"report" I note she has not come and said the same about the IRA and Britain.Maybe Britain can compensate all the IRA militants who ended up in jail,"cut their wrists" or were killed by SAS hit squads.Thats different right? No rogue state there? When are you leaving Malvinas and paying compensation for the hundreds of Argentinians killed and the sinking of the General Belgrano etc.?

no recognition ever. French FM is either naive in the extreme or knows something the rest of the world does not.

What a nonsense. Israel has already accepted a palestinian state, though, not this government. What will be its borders? More and less the Clinton proposal, accepted by Israel in Taba and postponed by Palestinians, or proposed by Ulmart to Abbas and also postponed by Palestinians. In any "imposed" solution,by the West, Palestinians will have to accept refugees into its own palestinian state, and will have to accept the jewish state. In sum, an imposed solution will be rejected not by Israel but by Palestinians.

You know, a certain proportion of what comes out on the threads on this site seems emblematic of an arrogant racism, largely directed at Arab people specifically, and Muslim people in general. The tone of a number of the comments creates a rather colonial ambience. It's almost like a mirror-image of the sort of discourse one gets on certain other blogs in which some numinous entity defined as 'The Jews' gets the blame for everything that's wrong with the world. Rationality - and an understanding of history - seem to have gone of the window. I suppose it's easier to have an 'enemy Other' than to engage with real people.

On at least one item the French FM is correct: the ME needs peace. In fact the entire world needs peace. I pray it will be achieved, especially in the ME and of course elsewhere. We, EU citizens, are fed up spending money and lives (UN soldiers) on foreign wars, far away in Africa, Afghanistan etc. Another war in the ME would be a major disaster, for all of us. With the grown Muslim population outside the ME, Jews in the diaspora will no longer be safe either. No more wars, no more bloodshed, how I loved that sentence when spoken on The Voice Of Peace, Israeli radio station in the 70/80/90ies.

Eitan, mah shlomcha achi? Ani lo rotza l'gor eem ha Arabiim. gam Lecha? Okay? Letet lehem bbeit. Lo b'yisrael. Ok? Shavua tov!

The ambassies of the states concerned can just go ahrad and ask the original passport holder to present them to the respective embassy, and thus check wether their cityzen was or was not in Dubai at the time of the assassination

Resolution 242 gave them. 242 does not mention the establishment of an additional state in the region at all. Also, it does not mention at all concepts such as "Palestinians" or "Palestinian state" and such concepts, incidentally, were never brought forward at the time by either the Soviet Union or the Arab states.

tragedy was the murder of Rabin. He would have got a much better deal for Israel than what I fear will be forced on her.

French FM is calling Oslo Accords a bluff .

sorry to insult the Americans here. :)

Get used to it. ahh france, dreyfuss is always close to your heart eh? unbelievable.... a state before borders BECAUSE a scumbag was assasinated is frankly, hysterical and rash and in this region, diplomatically speaking, this statement is like throwing oil on a fire...it's really very irresponsible...but as we all know, france has a very funny way of working in international relations...always slippery...kinda like the swiss...

The world runs on TV these days, which Israel doesn't seem to have realised. It helpfully supplied lovely TV pictures of itself flattning Lebanon and Gaza, shooting up civilians and ambulances etc. Now it's hepfully supplied lovely TV pictures of its smiling killers wondering around a hotel full of westerners in a westerners favourite shopping destination, prior to killing a man in cold blood, all while pretending to be Brits and other Europeans. Bibi might as well have stood at the Arc de Triomphe or in Trafalgar Square and shouted 'I bring death in the name of Israel'. That's the kind of effect all this has on the western TV viewer. And Israelis just don't realise or care. One poster on here said 'All governments use assassinatoion'. That's the kind of blindness. Sure, the UK and US have bloody histories, but no, most European states do NOT murder their enemeies. Belgium? Sweden? France? Germany? Poalnd? No, they don't use state murder.

And that's the problem, Eitan, isn't it? A state, but not a state. A people, but not a people. Non-persons, in other words. Think about it.

what land? we gave back the gaza, yet they still attack us. when are you going to give back texas to mexico and NY to the indians? how about waterboarding innocent iraqis. what you amercans are good at... throwing stones in a glass house.

The Palestinians did not get screwed - thet screwed themselves; They were given a state with clearly defined borders and REFUSED, choosing to wage a war against the Jews. This is fact.They did not have their own state prior to the establishment of Israel and they have continued to reject one of their own.

Great post of yours !! Apparently you seem to know a great deal about France...but from the outside ! Montreal definately looks like Paris !!! hilarious. So what's the problem ? Kouchner is repeating exactly what France has been repeating for the last decades. There should be a Palestinian State and Israel should end the occupation. So what's all that talk about hijabs and burkas ? and islamic riots ?????? Fow News is not good for you Harry.

Israel's sovereignty and will also include the suburbs of Givat Zeev, Maaleh Adumim and Gush Etzion. 2) The Jordan Valley, in its widest definition, will remain part of Israel. 3) A Palestinian state will not be a regular state. (Rabin's speech at the Knesset, Oct. 1995)

Don't they have other issues to pay attention than a killing of a known terrorist? Is it because someone is pointing a finger at Israel? Do we trust anything coming out of Dubai? I trust them even less than European useful idiots. I believe that the world is a better place without him. Hope they all (Hamas, Al Qaida) go to hell.

"It wasn`t illegal for Jordan to kick all Jews out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1948, but it was illegal for Jews to move back in, reclaim and develop their properties after 1967?" The Fourth Geneva Convention was published in 1949. Read it and find the answer to your question.

Used to hearing skewed French conclusions as I live in a French province of Canada.If I use their way of thinking then the south of France should be an independent country for the 'French' of Arab origin so they can wear their hijabs, burkas and riot with impunity.

The city of Lyon has a thousand years of history behind. Keep your islamophobia for yourself and stay in Raleigh (wherever that is...).

You make me laugh. Perhaps you should revise more proper history and stop sticking to the usual propaganda. You want a reading list ? start with Tom Seguev and learn. You're welcome.

War with the entire ME - Looks like the Pals will declare a state in 2011, that way you can start your war. your FM wants to fight everyone - he's even locking horns with US congressmen. Israel's choices are simple: -accept the Pal state - peace achieved after a generation or so, everyone knows true peace won't be instant -Don't accept Pal state, keep the dogs in their cage - peace achieved in probably a bit more time -Don't accept Pal state, pick a fight, unleash nukes - word has it Israel has 250 +- & if they all work - that's 250 arab cities - or about 50 w/Iran in the mix - in any case israel will wipe itself out from nuke fallout alone since many targets are less than 30Ks from Israel's border. So let's get Israel's cleansing war over. The problem is that there are quite a few arab nutcases itching for the same fight - and according to their Madagascar clacs loosing half the arab population in return for Israel's self destruction - that's a number they can live with.

Guess what genius israel has NEVER declared her borders!!!!!

Give them that.

is what the Dubai authorities and our elected officials have decided to tell us. What they haven't decided to tell us is a different matter. Austria hasn't informed the media what they have discovered, but it was hinted at by the Dubai official in this latest statement. And now there is a money trail. Since 9/11 how the authorities chase the money has become increasingly sophisticated. Remebering it is not just the Dubai authorities investigating now. Legally under international law the FBI has to also investigate if the Dunbai authorities ask, if they are not already.

Sam, there was no land stolen. Your moron, corrupt leaders LOST IT. It was more important to destroy Israel in '67 than declare a State. Please, tell all of us why a Pal State wasn't formed in 1966, if it was so important to you ?? There was no BS of occupation at that time ?? WHY, SAM ?? Other Pal lovers, anyone ?? Perhaps there were no "Palestinian people" back then, and they were only "created" for Israel. Their fake, fugazy rights only come into play for Israel. Why weren't these "RIGHTS" asserted under the Jordanians ??

Yes ! And i wonder what you're good at... Stealing land from the palestinians and deniying their rights seem to be what you're good at.

In some ways, I have some sympathy for the oft-expessed Zionist view that there's no difference between this hit and predators in Pakistan. However, that misunderstands fundamentally the wstern view of Israel. Israel, after Goldstone was already in the last-chance saloon, viewed as a borderline rogue state always ready to unleash violence, never ready to control its settlers and free the Pals. So what does Israel do? It invades a posh hotel in the moost westernised part of the Middle East, a place visited bu hundreds fo thousands of westerners, and it sends its tennis-clad clowns to kill a man.

what the fallout will be. Hopefully that is what he will tell Avigdor (the nightclub bouncer) Lieberman on Monday. So the nightclub bouncer can stand up and walk out the room. It is getting really entertaining. Ayalon him of the naughty chair style of diplomacy is kicking up a stink today, saying there is no proof it was Israel that had done it. Wonder what those three Palestinians in custiody are saying. Palestinians in Gaza don't get to go to Dubai without the full assent and knowledge of the Israeli authorities. Monday is going to be very interesting.

Somebody appears upset that a certain country borrowed French passports to tour the Arab world.

Another Palestinian as such we need a stare for Palestinians How does logic make sense? If a québécois murders a québécois over seas will they have to cede from Canada? If a Tamil kills a Tamil does that mean they need a state? Palestinian need a state for whole different reason, and when it comes hoefully they will not kill eachother

It's getting old all this talk...I want to see the so called international laws come to work. Someone out there has got to do something about israel's impunity with the rest of the world.

Good to see world opinion envisioning overdue statehood for Palestinians in their land. Hope they will compete in the next Olympic games.

What a stupid idea ,is he real.How about the Basque people declaring a state in parts of Spain and France befor deciding borders,the Kurdish people declaring a state in parts of Iran,Iraq and Turkey before deciding borders,the Tamils declaring a state in Sri-lanka and so on and so forth.Does he think before he utters his nonsense?

If only the PA would give up violence and they would try to get rid of hamas and get their act together then maybe then its time for them to have their 'palestine' But israel should not be forced to give up land, it will only make violence towards israeli's grow. Who cares about international law? let those anti-israel people stay a few weeks in israel and see how 'peaceful' these PA and hamas people are...Then they will get while israel has a right to excist and why they should not be forced to give up land.

LOOK!!! The Germans are coming!!! America SAVE us! Or we will surrender. Being cowards are what we are good at.

atia eyc . without first determining their borders . French love seeing blood flowing ,as long as it isn't their own blood

1) if there weren't 6 million Muslims living in France and he wasn't afraid of a) losing their votes; b) riots. 2) if he weren't of Jewish origin.

Are you talking about Israeli refugees?

"France is assisting in the training of Palestinian police, and businesses are being created in the West Bank... It follows that one can envision the proclamation of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community..." Well, doesn't that explain why Israeli authorities (Netanyahu government) are escalating the rate of Palestinian eviction/home demolition. Where might the Palestinian state exist in the West Bank... Highway 443 cuts through the West Bank. (Haaretz 14.1.10) What about the stinking apartheid wall and all the check points? What of the numerous Palestinian business closures by Israel? What about Palestinian agriculture land stolen by Israel? What about the water? Israeli swimming pools seem to have priority over adequate drinking water for Palestinian people. When will Israel vacate Palestinian territory, leaving room for a viable Palestinian state?

What we need Mcqueen, and i live here, is for America, and Americans to mind their own business. We want peace, but it is because of your greedy country, and it's "we want everything" policies that this world is in turmoil. As soon as our government realizes that it's friends are actually it's greatest enemy, we will have peace in the middle east. Then Arab, and Israeli will unite, and America will be seen for what it is, a greedy, narcissistic, capitalist,colonialist, murdering, destructive force.

Love the comment of creating a Palestinian State before we have borders,,,this from the same people who brought us the successful Maginot line, French Poodles and Collaboration with Terrorists...Stick to the only thing you know which is wine, croissants and cheese!

This is a logical as saying- "Iran needs to build Disneyland because it is getting Nuclear Weapons." Oh, I forgot, this is the same country that thought "the Nazi's have invaded us and we need a collaborative government!"

the assasination of a Terrorist leader shows a Palestinian state is needed just as much as it shows a Muslim state is needed when Muslims riot in Paris. Coward Frenchie.

... leave the squabbling over this hilltop and that until Pal State is established... after which the diplomatic clout of the Pals will be immensely improved... no more time should be lost to make this endeavour reality... ultimately for the good of both Israel and Palestine...

I think you'll find your daft blinkered view very much in the minority these days. You, and people like you cannot stop this.

Will it be a sort of vitual state in the sky? Of course, on the other hand, Israel manages to have a state with undefined borders.

I do not know if you are serious but if you are you must be living in a different world. Israel has been getting away with violating all kind of laws including Jewish laws and jewish moral laws. Now the world is catching up to the Israeli lies and the time has come for a Palestinian state and Palestinian rights.

Israel will need to stand up to the settlers & the religious.

That's a bit of tortured logic! Tell me, Monsieur FM, what does every act of anti-semitism in Paris mean since we can assume you find profound meaning in every act of violence.

It wasn't illegal for Jordan to kick all Jews out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1948, but it was illegal for Jews to move back in, reclaim and develop their properties after 1967? Where did you get your international law degree from? A Cracker Jack box?

The statement should not make any differences. And I think is a calculated move to wove the Arabs it is just business. Be cooolllll

Kouchner must get the Nobelprize for idiotism. What has the killing of a TERRORIST in Dubai to do with the IMMEDIATE recognition of a Palestinian State, even WITHOUT recognizing it's borders? The 'need for peace' in the ME? There is 'need for peace' everywhere in this world! Stupid remarks made by the French FM won't help to accomplish this.

A Hamas man gets topped while trying to import missiles to direct at Israeli civilians and FM Kouchner deems this as proof of the immediate need for a Palestinian state? I would have thought it proved exactly the opposite. Only a Palestinian state committed to non violence has any hope of being viable. FM Kouchner needs to take a lesson from the Quartet about their 3 conditions on Hamas. Fortunately they are a bit wiser than he is.

Let us worry first about Corsican independence before Palestine.

It all of a sudden dawned on the FM that a Palestinian state can be declared without the exixtence of permanent borders. The best and prime example is Israel which to date has no permanent or recognizable borders, and by its own choice. The contention that permanent borders have to be agreed upon before the Palestinian state is declared has been all along a ruse to prevent its establishment. It is the U.S which talked Arafat and Abbas out of declaring its independence. Such a declaration will set the process in motion swiftly. It is about time.

with someoneelses land. He would do better to invite the Pals for example to the Comorros. or make an area in southern France available. Southern France was Moslim country anyway, captured by Algerian and Barbary pirates. If he does not want Pals there, Then why force Israel to accept them?

herr kopuchner should mind his own business. how about a state for corsica? -- PARIS - The latest explosion of militant Corsican nationalism is forcing the French government to revise its strategy for dealing with terrorism on the scenic island where Napoleon was born. Violence, which French President Jacques Chirac described as "the cancer of Corsica," has spread to southern France, where thousands of Corsicans have settled, fleeing the island's poverty and economic stagnation. An explosion ripped through an office building belonging to state energy giant Electricite de France ..

The presedence of recognizing a Palestinian state without an agreement will lead to pockets of muslims in France to demand recognition as individual states and will lead to the end of a French soverign nation. Kouchner is an idiot.

Wouldn't a guy trying to buy long-range missiles show how such a state would be dangerous? On the other hand, many folks would say the sun rising shows the need for such another such state.

Should we be surprised a fellow muslim nation supports this idea...

~snickers~

And while France is waiting to properly welcome this "immediate" state, in can practice by giving "immediate" independence to French Guyana, New Caledonia and "French" Polynesia, areas approximately 100 TIMES the size of Judea and Samaria. Then France can PAY for launching satellites and digging phosphates, and can even clear up the contaminated nuclear mess made by its weapons tests.

the more progress(and statements like these), that are made, the more imminent it becomes. the international community needs to monitor the situation extremely close to prevent this from happening, and/or to determine who is behind the circumstances that lead to it, if it does happen. AND be ready and willing to intercede if its warranted.

...and for those American Jews, #1 Abe & #2 McQueen, from upstate NY, put it in your head the Arab world will eventually destroy a belligerent and hegemonic Israel state. So Israel best protection are the millions of refugees who want to return if so they wish. I foresee a problem that the Jews want a bigger land , vacant of Pals as has been the history of the creation of Israel. So the change is incumbent on Israel and not the Arab world.

More pie in the sky from delusional Europeans; what the assassination actually shows is that Arab countries allow terrorists to operate freely on their territory. Moreover, as Kouchner knows, any unilateral declaration of statehood would violate Oslo and would lead to war, one which would result in the destruction of the PA.

And what about the fact that the Palestinians are at the moment two states? And most importantly what about the release of Gilad Shalit?

You demand recognition but are unwilling to concede the same right to a state as those you want to dispossess. Why should they recognize your right when you deny theirs? Both peoples have a right to a state. Both peoples have a right to sovereignty and security from the other.

The Palestinians have suffered enough at the hands of the Israelis. Adopt the Saudi 2002 Plan for peace.

"Need for Palestinian state is immediate only solution is to put it in France" That is just tooooo funny! Ahmadinejad mulled that if there had to have been a "Jewish state" carved out of the holocaust then it should have been carved out of Germany, and not out of Palestine. And he was then portrayed as an anti-semite hell-bent on extermination for suggesting that. Yet I look at YOUR comments and I'm struggling to see any difference. Looking again.... nope.... no difference at all.

The US clown president will fade from the world stage as the economy slides off the cliff. His teleprompter writers are scared spitless over the projected losses this November for the Democratic party. Greece is nothing compared to California. The EU is in a position to make the Euro the world's reserve currency as the Arab world has little desire to use the currency of the Great Satan. Should OPEC start accepting Euros, the greenback would plummet like a stone and Europe's woes would end just as fast.

Guys In the end the Palestinians will get it, it's a matter of time-every body believe what is written in the Torah

The palestinian arabs have NEVER done anything to show that are capable of governing one inch of land anywhere. They are the world's biggest beggars and have the most corrupt politicians that money can bribe or steal. WHAT HAVE THEY EVER DONE TO DESERVE WORLD WIDE RECOGNITION...They have done nothing except give the world more ingenious ways of terrorism and having a state will not change their terrorism toward Jews. Go back to your coissant mr FM. You do not understand the arab mentality wanting arab/islamic domination. Your country is in trouble for appeasing muslims

This French manyak is trying to escape the Dubai scandal and his intelligence involvment in it.

One good reason for the establishment of a Palestinian state is that it will remove the plight of the Palestinians as a premise for Iran to go to war to annihilate Israel. Another good reason is that it is right and just and fair. The Palestinians got screwed when the UN established Israel. It is time to right that wrong. Preferably by the UN which created the problem in the first place.

They need to be recognized as a state so they can arm themselves for protection against the Israeli Occupiers and expel them from their country! Maybe the world will help them then if they have the ability to help themselves. Yes, I know, only Israel is allowed to have security and protection. God's chosen! Chosen for what, self-destruction?

"The foreign minister of France said in an interview Saturday that the need for a recognized Palestinian state was immediate and should come even before its borders were negotiated." - unspecified 'news agencies' They must be smoking some real good stuff in Paris. France has never lifted a finger to support anyone in Israel interested in creating a Palestinian State. France has NEVER failed to support those in Israel intent upon preventing a Palestinian state. French protestations about the need for a Palestinian state will become credible ONLY when France starts punishing Israel for preventing any Palestinian state. And, as we all know, France will never stop helping Israel prevent a Palestinians State then we know this whole story is total bull shit.

Im sure Abe wants the only democratic state in tht emiddle east to not become an apartheid sate?

Israel should speak out of power and compassion. I suggest that Israel to drop U.S $ over Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon with a minimum apology in flyers that read to get yourself together and meet us half way to live in peace and prosper together to the honor of our father Abraham. None of us are perfect because all of us spilled innocent blood and that only our God is perfect. The Israeli Jewish people believe as much the most Muslims believe that the Jews were the ones who built Jerusalem before Christianity and Islam come to birth. The agonies over the agonies of the children of Abraham must be translated to find a common ground to live in peace with one another, unless the faith in God has faded away.

Of course. Recognition of Jewish state and Arab state is a precondition for any other things. And guess who is against it?

The Palestinians have been fighting against an independent state with their lives and the lives of their children. They are afraid that an independent Palestine would legitimize Israel's existence. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza and spoke about withdrawing from most of the West Bank. The response was rockets aimed at civilians in Sderot. The Arab world rejected a state when the UN proposed a partition in 1947. They rejected a state with the Three No's of Khartoum in 1967. Arafat rejected the Taba proposal in 2001. What's more important--a state or virtue, with virtue defined as dying in a jihad in order to kill Jews? Virtue always wins.

oh yes, crazy Palestinians with their crazy demands like the one about ending settlements! these settlements are only illegal according to international law, not Israeli law, Israel is above such universal laws. p.s: sarcasm involved.

The Palestinians have never made any demands other than that some of what has been stolen from them be returned. Israel, on the other hand, never ceases to make unreasonable demands, and clearly has no interest in peace. The good news is that the two-state solution is dead, and so it will be a single state for all the people.

There must be consequences for Palestinian violations, which will be acts of war by a country (Palestine) against Israel. This is the key to peace. Attacks against Israel should not be tolerated on any level(i.e.rockets, mortars, snipers, infiltrations with retreat by into Palestine etc.). These actions by Palestine the country will be considered acts of war with full retaliation by the IDF required, no half measures. Gen.MacArthur once stated "there is no substitute for victory" and that you shouldn't give up your military advantage. That a war should be won quickly using all your available resources including your military superiority to win wars. Anything else is appeasement and equal to blackmail that invites more violence and war. As we have seen in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict this has been completely accurate. IDF toleration and restraint of their superior military strength only emboldened the Pals to more violence. Give them country and a violent war for violations.

...gosh, what's a colonial conqueror to do? Heh heh. It ain't like we didn't tell you...

then actual negotiations with actual compromise, rather than a list of unwaivering, absurd demands, may actually be possible

put it in France

and it's right to exist in peace without millions of "refugees" pouring in.

It is the social structure. Brothers against cousin, family against family, tribe against tribe, The strongest tribe gets the goodies. The House of Saud gets all the oil revenue, the rest of SA lives in abject poverty. There is no nationalistic outlook. Arab "countries" are the alpha tribes with flags. You think the little sliver of Israel is the cause of all violence? Crack open a history book. Bigger fish are frying. Listen to the crackle.

PA state is an act of war, and will bring down the Middle East. A PA state will end in the destruction of Arab states.