French FM: Mideast summit must be tackled with caution

'Progressives' are grossly judgemental, self-centered and unaware of factual reality and history. Feeling superior they seem unaware of "possession is nine tenths of the law" and that it's rather the Arabs who should come forward and spell out what they offer Israel in return for what they want. 'Progressives' also don't get it that in this case "land for peace" is both immoral and unworkable. The Arabs had used the 'territories' to threaten, pester and attack Israel before we took these territories in self defence. They consistently and persistently demonstrate that they don't want, can't make and won't maintain real peace. The Arabs continue to plan, prepare and perpetrate genocide against Israel. 'Progressives' can't see that it would be suicidal to concede anything in response to aggressive threats and action. The 'progressives' must realize that it's rather the Arabs who should offer, accept and be convincingly satisfied with 'painful' territorial compromises.

other peoples can claim ancient title.They were there before the Hebrews(See the Old Testament).Occupation is legally accepted in the modern world.And the Palestinians who are ethnic descendants of those ancient peoples who converted to islam and became arabised in the 7thcentury A.D. have been on the land since time immemorial.At best,the small percentage of jews 5% can claim equal rights.The 19th century zionists have no claim at all !The settlers were mostly brought from outside,most recently from Russia.No claims there.Settlements from the Partition Line onwards would be considered illegal.This was the view of Theodor Meron,famed legalist & President of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia(until 2005).See Gershon Gorenberg'Israel's Tragedy Foretold'March 10,2006.The New York Times.I advocate the fait accompli position & the Partition Line.No more,no less.Hence the 2 state.Many progressives advocate the 1 state of equal citizens.

about the UN Resolution 181 Partition Line of 1947,which gives Palestinians 44% of the land,not the 22% of 242.This Partition Line has been declared as ". . the first,last,and only legally authorised demarcation of the Israeli -Palestine borders"('Israel's Borders Under International Law'by A.D'Amato,see p.3).It is also the basis of the UNCHR's call in 1999 for Palestinian self determination.

"The master liar Olmert........" who knows well enough that 'a lie is a lie is a lie'. Olmert knows that no country can live 'side by side in peace with terrorists who wish to destroy it' and so he lies but this time he knows only too well the truth, that Israel must not be sacrificed for the world's need FOR OIL. Sorry, it seems those Palestinians might have to forget about 'Palestine' and go back home and if they do not know which Arab country they or their father or grandfathers came from, they should know all Arab Countries are the same and they won't be strrangers among their own people as they would be, living next door to the Enemy.

a peace conference while rockets are being fired at it daily"? Simple answer: NO.

It is incomprehensiblet that Israel of all States in the region should be the one chosen to 'live side by side' with the one who is dedicated to its destruction! Is the world asking for Big Trouble which could be sparked off by just such a problem which could be solved without endangering a World Conflict when such as these Terrorists are being denied? Why not the Arab States contribute their share in a Homeland for these 'lost souls'. After all, they are Arabs while the Arabs themselves play the Game of being the 'Outsider' looking on What foul Play is such Arrogance?

is for these Arab Refugees who call themselves 'Palestinians' who have been left homeless after Arab/Israeli Wars is for their Homelands in the ARAB TERRITORIES to have to take their people back. The Arab neighbouring Countries to which the Arab Refugees actually belong refused them Entry back home when the refugees wished to return. There should be no turning back now when these refugees by virtue of their 'Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, who himself like the others was not even a Palestinian but an Egyptian! elected to call these people Palestinians with a view to claiming a Homeland in the region of Palestine. No Talk of that now. Israel for obvious reasons refuses. The Refugees have to be SENT BACK TO THEIR HOMELANDS AND NOT BE GIVEN THE CHANCE TO DESTROY THE JEWISH HOMELAND AND TO CREATE AN ISLAMIC ONE IN ITS PLACE which is their ultimate goal. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!and everyone should be allowed to live in peace in their own true Homelands.

So what? Govts of Israel, Japan, UK were also elected democratically. Apparently one hopes that democratically elected Govt of Israel will divide Judea and Samaria with Democratically elected but totally impotent Palestinian Govt (Fatah). Only Iran can frighten Arabs into real peace process.

I'm always moved by the generosity of people who allow me to continue living in my ancestral land, the Land of Israel. (Palestine is a misnomer). Would you also recognize as fait accompli the Jewish 'settlements' beyond the 1949 armistice lines, also known as the Green Line? There is a quarter of a million people living in these settlements, who want to continue living in our ancestral land and most Israelis loathe the idea of evacuating them.

"It is a devious mechanism" say you, and indeed it is when endeavouring to force the Jewish State to live 'side by side' with so-called Palestinian Organisations wherein Terrorist cells exist. The Western world today hunts Terrorists down everywhere, captures them and jails them... and Israelthe proverbial enemy of the Arab is being forced to give them anARAB STATE NEXT DOOR TO THE JEWISH HOMELAND AND LIVE SIDE BY SIDE WITH THEM IN PEACE.!!! when Loud and Clear the Palestinians'goal is to see the 'Destruction of the Jewish State'! This meeting should not be held, and I thoroughly agree.

Israel should let Hamas to depose Abbas and smash Fatah, also in Judea and Samaria, in order to make it easier to abolish the PA and wipe it off the world map and consciousness. It will also open the way for the Kingdom of Jordan to take charge as the only viable nation state of all the Arabs of Greater Palestine. Having got rid of the PA, Israel and Jordan should agree on the border between them in Judea and Samaria and maybe cede Gaza to Egypt that would sort it out quite smartly. Everybody, Jews and Arabs, should continue to live in peace where they are and nobody should move from their homes or land. Israelis who would thus become residents of the Kingdom of Jordan should be given rights and conditions like the Arabs in Israel.

of Israelis, especially the 'Jewish settlers', is in the game.

Israel should let Hamas to depose Abbas and smash Fatah, also in Judea and Samaria, in order to make it easier to abolish the PA and wipe it off the world map and consciousness. It will also open the way for the Kingdom of Jordan to take charge as the only viable nation state of all the Arabs of Greater Palestine. Having got rid of the PA, Israel and Jordan should agree on the border between them in Judea and Samaria and maybe cede Gaza to Egypt that would sort it out quite smartly.

Begging your pardon, you said that Hanayeh used the expression '1948 lands' which land belongs to Israel since her Recreation in May 1947 when officially and legally created. According toUN Resolutions 242 and 338 Israel must not be forced back to the vulnerable and defensive Demarcation lines and only those which will protect her survival as a Sovereign State.Could you be good enough to explain please what Hanyeh meant by '1948 lands'.....

as capital,plus right of refugees to return.In my opinion,this is a just & fair solution.I have always thought the zionist project to be a misadventure,but since israel is already there(fait accompli) then the next step is the Partition.At the time the Arabs rejected it because they felt that any Partition was a violation of the Palestinian right to self determination.But now that Hamas has accepted the 2 state,the only just and fair solution is the Partition Line,which is obviously what the UN decided in 1947.

speech before Ramdan,Haniyeh used the expression '1948 lands' in describing the news that they were receiving in Gaza from their colleagues.However,there are signs that the Mecca summit spirit migh be revived.abbas knows tha he has reached the end of the road with the cabal.

"Another question: should Israel attend a peace conference while rockets are being fired at it daily?" I'd say, all the more reason. Peace is not something that is to be granted as a gift, it's something that most Israelis aspire to. It really is time that serious talks finally take place. The PA democratic elections were a major opportunity that Olmert's government refused to take up. Is the possibility of Saudi participation also to be snubbed? I would hope not.

is where an Agenda was unclear simply because ALL ARABS WANT TO KNOW IS THAT THEY WILL NOT HAVE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ARAB REFUGEES WHO ARE IN FACT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY and all they want is to know is that Israel, the Jewish State, will take over the burden of having Terrorist Groups 'living side-by-side'with her in a 23rd ARAB STATE called Palestine. It is clear that Arabs are not to be trusted in this delicate and dangerous operation between Israelis and so-called 'Palestinians' who most people have forgotten are but ARAB REFUGEES WHOSE HOMELANDS WOULD NOT ACCEPT THEM BACK and therefore a new Homeland has to be found for them. Consequently, WHY SIDE BY SIDE WITH ISRAEL THEIR PROVERBIAL ENEMY?

This is beyond ridiculous - to constantly hear from many Zionist Jews they don't support settlements - and this blather has gone on for several decades now while continue to grow exponentially. If Israeli's themselves can't control their own miscreants - then by all means stop the whining when Palestinian freedom fighters defend their homeland. It's time for the Jews to have another made for t.v special - as with the Gaza disengagement mini-series - and get on with the business of removing ILLEGAL settlers by FORCE. Why is it good enough for Palestinians to have a civil war but Israeli's would rather turn a blind eye to their own miscreant rabble rousers? Zionists are good at demanding Abbas deal with Hamas and he has done so - it's time for Israeli's to send tanks and bulldozers into the settlements - and get on with what everyone knows is the final episode to this sad and pathetic tale of human greed and religious colonial madness ( manifest destiny on crack).

if already AT ITS FIRST BEING OFFERED people REFUSED bcs THEY DISLIKE IT? Israel DOES need Saudi Arabian and other moderate Arab backing if PEACE is to happen. And it definitely is NOT as Israel perhaps thinks that EVEN IF neither NOV-15-paper is good enough nor the way the settlement question's practically handled has changed, YET PEACE'LL STILL BE ACHIEVABLE bettering the agreement wording AFTERWARDS. After that ALL THAT HAD STOPPED will start again, and worse than that, till??? MAYBE THERE'LL NEVER EVER BE A PEACE CHANCE AGAIN. For WHO can believe Israel REALLY wants peace if it doesn't pick the chance ("carpe diem!") now. Was this just the Mountain trembling for a (dead!) mouse to be born?

Thanks for the usual bit of enlightenment. I always look forward to your installments! So, now we are racists? Even from your corner of the world, when no good logic is to be found there is always the race card, huh? Good! That can go two ways, except the other way is based in fact. The fact being that the Arab world sees the African Muslim as inferior and treats him just that way. The darker the skin, the more in danger he is. Anyway, the Arab world has no bargaining power considering it caused the Arab-Palestinian problem to begin with yet has done nothing to alleviate their plight. As a matter of fact, they have forced them to live as captives so that they can use the Pals as leverage against Israel. They are morally bankrupt, so where would they find legitimate bargaining power?

Something else you should read about is from where and when do the pals show up and how and since when do they try to emerge as a nation. Sorry but you will not find this in A-rab propaganda.

of the majority of Israeli Jews and Jews worldwide. Thank you.

....the Arab side has not been informed of any preparations for the conference.... The Arabs will become somekind of laughing stock in the so called Middeast Summit 2007, since they don't have any bargaining power whatsoever to deal with ISRAEL and her WHITE SUPREMACISTS allies of the US and EU.

Neil, I'd say you have read some good propaganda. Obviously, I cannot respond to and clear up everything as these talkbacks will not allow the room to do this. While you read that stuff, though, read how the "ambulances" are used to move weapons and fighters. Also, you'd better recheck the stories; you'll see those ambulance stories were lies. You'll also se that there is a widely viewed clip of a Pal kid being killed next to his father - that has also been shown to be Pal propaganda that was false. While you read international laws, by the way, read about nations taking land in defensive wars. Also, while you are looking critically at Israel, compare how Israel is held to different standards than the rest of the word and the world's history. While we are looking at Israel's bombing neighborhoods, look at where the Pal's put their bomb making plants and where they work out of, making sure Israel will kill civilians. At the same time, watch how the Pals AIM for civilians even tho

One sided nonsense. Denton. I live in New Zealand. I was extremely pro Israel. Then I started to read about the Palestinian Fight and The Israeli fight against each other. How both sides use terrorist actions to fight. Human Bombs/Kassams and one ton bombs on residential neighborhoods. I read about the Green line of 1967 and how it is meant to be the interim border until negotiations have firmed up a border. I read about the International laws of occupation and how you are not allowed to colonise an occupied land. I read about Israeli snipers killing school children. Tanks firing fletchet shells into olive groves while shepards slept there. Israeli air force bombing ambulances and civilians in Lebanon. So I have no ax to grind for either side but I have come to the conclusion. Israel has something to answer for. 1.6 million Gazans in prison for 40 years. Terrorised by IDF and settlers. I only hope that you do not have to live in such a situation. If you had any balance or humanity

Moussa has long played a double game. His country Egypt has been at "peace" with Israel, but this never stopped him actively advocating boycotts of Israel. This oily propagandist was recently on Hard Talk BBC TV and he could not, under questioning, get himself to recognise the Jewish State of Israel.He is nothing but a cheap spindoctor

Turn your question around. If Israel intends to continue its current policy of expanding into Palestinian land and won't make any concessions, what do they have to gain by attenting?

israel has kidnapped Thousands of Palestinians and most are held without charge.

The French minister surely was misquoted---he pbobably meant how can Israel negotiate while rockets are flying in daily from Gaza which is now under Hamas control.......an indication how Arabs would govern an independent state!!!! Anyway the other error in the report references occupied lands....sorry again but the wording should have said conquered lands due to Arab hostilities. When you lose you lose now go home to Jordan!!

If only they would show up in Milwaukee calling it their next "Ancient Homeland Since Time Immemorial", just like they show up in Serbia, Sudan, India, Russia, Spain, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast chanting the same litany. You want to negotiate peace with these people, think maybe if you give them a few more miles of desert they will suddenly give up a millennium and a half of Jihad? They don't care if you are a Brewer now, they still want your head.

The real question is: Should Israel attend a peace summit while Hamas and Fatah Palestinian terrorists are commiting suicide bombing and shooting off missles at Israel? I have an idea both sides come and talk peace with no preconditions

Why do Arabs demand the right to invade everyone and then have a hissy fit over a few Jews in the Holy Land?

The French foreign minister is absolutely correct in that Israel must freeze all settlement construction immediately if a peace process is to succeed, as with Israel's history of lying, ignoring UN resolutions, violating international laws and treaties and failing to keep its side of previous agreements, it must be assumed that they will continue their previous untrustworthy behavior.

It should also be clear that long term accomodation will be best reached when the West Bank will become a province of Jordan and the Gaza Strip a province of Egypt as they were following the 1949 Armistice which ended the Egyptian/Jordanian invasion (but not the state of war declared by the Arabs). They were colonies of Jordan and Egypt from 1949-1967 and through the Egypt-Israel and Jordan-Israel peace treaties which left them in the hands of Israel. Israel has been kind enough to cede Gaza strip to its Arab residents (Jew free as the Arabs so desired).

As well, all the various European officials who have attempted to push the Arabs into setting up an agenda which may result in concessions and the beginning of a peace agreement will be frustrated by the Arab foot-dragging.

the same old same old claptrap from the arab league !! it will never work until all muslim countries accept the existence of israel as required by un membership!

Without adequate prior communication and agreement, this conference is nothing more than a propaganda ploy: 1) It is a "dog and pony show" for George Bush, which he can hold up to gullible, uninformed people, such as the vast majority of Americans, claiming that he is doing everything possible for peace in the region. 2) It is a devious mechanism to be used by the US and by Israel to fix blame on the Palestinians. They will be made a "generous" offer, which in reality will be nebulous and without guarantees, and then will receive the entire blame for not "accepting" Israel's "generous" offer. Bill Clinton did the same thing to Yasser Arafat. This will not work with people who know what's going on and as various commentators have said, it can only inflame things. The meeting should not be held.

Happily we do notyet have Nov 15. But if the PEOPLE are supposed to see the agreement paper (when it stands) as so good that they give it their YES at the ballot box resp. referendum - and REFRAIN from action bcs the goal of their fight is taking shape - it REALLY must be strong and good, incl. things changing on the ground.

west of the Jordan. From time immemorial the Arabs of Western Eretz Yisrael have consistently demonstrated that they are incapable of unaided survival, especially at the national polity level. They constantly kill and steal from each other and lie to themselves, each other and the rest of the world. They never miss any opportunity to make atrocious choices and mistakes and they are incapable of sustaining and providing for themselves; they depend on others for everything. How on earth will they ever make it?

Mr. Moussa, how much more BS does the world have to be subjected to? Israel has had its soldiers kidnapped (without visiting rights from the red cross), is subjected to daily rocket attacks, and has clearly been seeking a way out of this mess called the West Bank and Gaza. If you are not interested in attending the peace conference, then don't. The whole world will see once and for all which side is the problem here. Peace conferences are not for dancing with friends, they are for making peace with enemies. And believe us...Moussa, we know you are the enemy. No matter what a peace treaty with Egypt states, you Mr. Moussa, are still the enemy.

Yes, Hamas is still either standing by or "coordinating (as per a previous Hamas statement)" rocket attacks causing their worst damage in Sderot. Hamas is Hamas, unchanged and an obstacle to peace. But the same can be said of continued expansion of Settlements, a key agent in the failure of Oslo (whether you choose to read history in place of taking refuge in falsehood--one is truth, the other a transgression). Who seeks peace? The Arab league has an old agreement gathering dust, one that might have precluded the second Intifada. While I might joke that "Normandy is a British possession," I'm JOKING. Who seeks peace?

If they really want PEACE, All Arab Countries will attebd this conference. All, not just a handful.

1)Exchange of territory - Only territory of similar size and type of use, i.e. Jewish settlement blocs for Arab settlement blocs in the Ara Valley, Triangel and the Jerusalem area. 2)Jerusalem - the Old City and the immediate vicinity must remain under Israeli sovereignty. 3)"Refugees" - none will enter sovereign Israel. 4)Demilitarization - No Arab militry force will be permitted in areas evacuated by Israel, only small and lightly armed police force will be permitted. It should also be clear that long term accomodation will be best reached when the West Bank will become a provice of Jordan and the Gaza Strip a provice of Egypt. Any other form of accomodation will be a source of unrest and even strife!

You know what? Maybe Israel should rant and rave, break things and hurt people. Maybe it should foment terror and violence in the region and sometimes even reach beyond the region. Maybe it should make wild claims and accusations and revise history. While at it, maybe the the Israelis should lose their love of life and embrace death and force others to die while at coffee shops and pizzarias and falafal stands. Maybe then the world will stop and see this problem equally instead of always from the side of the Arabs. Wait. Nevermind. Israel doesn't have any oil. Additionally, Israel is a Jewish state. Everything will be its fault regardless of how it conducts itself.

The master liar Olmert and the Israeli Gov't will participate in bilateral talks with the quisling Abbas for appearances sake, but no meaningful concessions will be made. As a result the US-sponsored peace conference will probably not proceed. The master liar Olmert will thereby risk angering Bush who sees the establishment of peace and a Palestinian state as one of his few legacies. As well, all the various European officials who have attempted to push the Israelis into setting up an agenda which may result in concessions and the beginning of a peace agreement will be frustrated by the Israeli foot-dragging. While the Israeli tactic will serve the master liar Olmert's short-term agenda of preserving the status quo at all costs, there can be little doubt that the countries that have tried to encourage the peace process will be much less sympathetic to the Israelis in the future. This mat upset

Another question: should Israel attend a peace conference while rockets are being fired at it daily?

While building new settlements on land in questions is something that upsets the arab world, keep in mind that the Pals are shooting missiles (from Gaza) into Israel almost daily. Israel is willing to attend... do the arabs really want peace... if so, what do they have to lose by attending!!! Maybe they just want the Pals to be the Islamic world's unifiying Jihad! Instead, they should be focusing on how to improve their daily lives... PEACE!!!