Hamas warns Arabs: Don't rush toward normalizing Israel ties

I have my own family members, who are not Jews, residing in Israel and have full citizenship rights and benefits. They are more satisfied by their treatment by the State then some of my Jewish family members. I know many non Jews, who live in Israel. If you mean Israeli Arabs, so why they refuse to be part of the future Palestinian State with their current houses being on other side of the border? If Israel is so bad to them, why on Earth they would like to stay in Israel and keep their Israeli passports?

FYI, genius, 90% of the world's (more than) 6 billion people never met a Jew, and couldn't locate Israel on a world map. For you to speak on behalf of "99.9% of the world" not only makes you look foolish, but also exposes the weakness of your arguments. All of the Israel-haters in this forum use "the world" to make their points, as if they've taken some sort of "world" poll when, in fact, the opinions you/they express are based only on your/their own individual bigotry. So, to use your own term, "That is and will remain your problem".

who stand up for the people of Israel, bless you

Of course you have some viable statistics that substantiate your piece of propaganda? If so, post the link, otherwise, stop tyring to Bull-hit so much Reputable American Polls show that 70% of Americans are on Israel's side Show me your polls, I'll show you mine

axel if we were to desist from pursuing our work.if we were to look to the world for approval israel would quickly become a state without initiative and dynamism. if that means making people like you angry with us then that is fair enough.

Yes, keep of using God as an excuse, He'll punish you

What are you guys talking about? you keep on excusing your selves with such a ... if any, God is punishing you guys for what you are doing: taking the name of God in vane.Remember God punishes, does it in a terrific manner so hold on sunny.

"axel we build on jewish lands.you may not agree.that is your problem." You build on occupied territory. 99,9 % of the world plus me disagree. That is and will remain your problem.

Hello, 'Birdie'! I think the way the push for a settlement freeze was handled by Obama was about the worst 'diplomacy' I'd ever seen from a US president. He made Carter look almost competent. That doesn't negate the fact the settlements are a terrific obstacle to establishing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. There's no question they need to be addressed - diplomatically! - by all parties. The continued building is 'adding insult to injury'. I'm no soldier, but the settlements' contribution to Israel's defence seems puny in an era of jets, rockets, and ballistic missiles. The best defence for Israel is a credible peace with the Palestinians. Shana Tova. MV

axel we build on jewish lands.you may not agree.that is your problem.

Any thing that is non violent,we are against. No surprise there.The Qassam way,or the roofs top way,that is their motto.What i don't understand is that normalization with the Arab states is so attractive.Iraq-Kuwait,Iraq-Syria,Egypt-Libya,Egypt-Syria,Gulf state-Syria, Egypt-Sudan,Algeria-Morocco.Do you call that normal?.It seem that we already have normal relations with Arabs.

Dear Daniel. Israel is the state. The territory of W Bank is not. Any Arab of this area has the right to live there and Israeli have the right too. It is because of the principle of sovereignity . W Bank does not have it until the state is proclaimed.

"can a Jew buy land in (or even live in or move to) each of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, or Gaza?" different question: can a Palestinian, living in the WB or Gaza move to or even live Israel (without getting married to an Israeli, and even then...)? tit for tat my dear

""Jews should be permited to reside in any village, town or city neighborhood on earth regardless of their Jewishness, and that is especially true in the Jewish people`s historic homeland of Eretz Israel."" Ok but then Arabs from W Bank and beyond should also be permitted to reside in any village,town or city...like Tel Aviv,Haifa... Careful what you wish for ...

especially when they never wanted it or meant it.....

Can the PM name but a single concrete step he has 'taken' towards resuming the talks with the palestinians. Thus far he has taken steps to keep them away and ensure the failure of any prospects for peace.

Settlements are illegal, and nothing will change that, no matter how loud you shout and abuse. Facts are facts. All Israeli's living over the '67 line will have to become Palestinian citizens and live under Palestinian law....or p off.

the president of NZ, and you are not a citizen of Israel...or are you? Whats this us business? I do hope you were offering Mexico to the Israeli's for them to set up a Jewish state, right at home of course in racist redneck Texas. Please show proof of receipts for all of land in Israel, from the 800,000 indigenous residents who were removed. I also find it ironic that serdot residents continue to cry about rockets from Gaza...do they not know that the true owners of the land on which they reside were kicked out in 1948, and were not paid any monies for their loss, and of course now reside in the Gaza prison death camp. The bible doesn't offer receipts Barry, and is not legal tender in a court of law. Duh! Barry does not speak for the average New Zealander.

there will never be peace untill the arabs accept fully and in a final status agreement the legitimate right of the jewish state to live within secure borders. all the rest, including the so-called settlement freeze, which was a foolish term concocted by obama, is a red herring. shavua tov, cipora p.s. as you must surely know, many of the so-called settlements were built precisely for security reasons. it is convenient for the left to ignore this and hyperventilate about religious fanatics.

'if we leave the judean hills israel`s waist would be a mere few miles.a determined tank attack would quickly cover that.is that what we want.which israeli leader is prepared to risk that?' I don't think the next war will be fought with tanks, Ombudsman. Your security isn't going to be found by widening Israel a few kilometres around Petach Tikvah. Ask the good citizens of Sderot how secure they feel, and whether it's tanks they fear. I understand you don't want to 'put all your eggs in one basket', but even all of Israel proper - barely 20,000 sq km - is a small basket. Your security will, I think, be best served by making a lasting peace with your enemies. And building on land which they have some reason to believe should belong to their own state is not the way to go about it. MV

then peace and normalization could be negotiated.

It is plain to see for everybody that the louder Israel praises its unrewarded 'concessions', the less substance is behind these claims. What Israel freezes is not settlement construction, but the little support it still has around the world.

yeah right?dont rush,but be friends with n work with the israelis slowly n secretly via tony blair n others,right?thxs for the info hamas.

Do Israel's critics really believe that the Arabs would not "steal as much" of pre-1948 Israel as they possibly could?

Strange mentality; Israel expects a reward from the Arab states for having decided to temporarily stop its illegal activity. Seeing that Arab states are tripping over each other to please Israel, I wouldn't be surprised if Israel gets what it wants. What will the Palestinians get out of all this whether from Israel or the Arab states?

Whle Arabs would like tothink they are unified ,a nation, the opposite is far more true. Arabs peoples have alsways been a divided group, divided in loyalities, clans and ties and for centuries killing and fighting each other. Only a brief spell of unity under the british but that was very brief indeed and once again tribalism, nepotism, clanism, reared their heads took control. Hamas speak for themselves thinking they speak to a unified group but there are many Arabs who would have none of them. On the other side of the coin, Israel gains very little out of ties with the Arabs, everything is caked in double talk. No rushing in their either.

...to demonstrate that the Isreali political class wants only to stael as much of the west bank as possible before figuring out how to drive the remaining Palestinians out. They have turned the Jewish Zionist dream into the world's nightmare and a Jewish nightmare.

Bibi has even out done himself advocating building and freezing at the same time. I would say he is a cochmologue musmach, black belt. Only his equivocation will delay resolution of the arab israeli conflict and result only in unknown numbers of additional victims on both sides. Not an admirable accomplishment..

"Jews should be permited to reside in any village, town or city neighborhood on earth regardless of their Jewishness" Just as non-Jews are permitted to reside in Israel regardless of their non-Jewishness?

So lets see what rewards sanctions brought to Southern Africa. A failed impoverished state in Zimbabwe. A country with the highest crime rate in the world, a corrupt gvt and the Black population still living is squalor, in South Africa. If you leftists ever get your wish and see Israel fail, what you will get is a Muslim area eventually under Sharia law in the whole of the Middle East, and then iso concentrating their efforts on "Muslimizing" Israel, The Arabs will apply their focus on "Muslimizing" the West.

I am sending you a smile for your: "what is left to balance the right? you and esther" I actually intended to write that myself, but changed my mind since she is way more to the Left than me. By the way, did you read any post by Rachel Rabin? Anyway, I am NOT Left, but anti-Israel's Right. Shavua tov, S

It must be global warming or maybe it's because 70% of the U.S. Congress and the American people in general support Israel in this matter of settlement construction and recognize that it is futile to try to "freeze" Mother Nature indefinitely pending an elusive peace agreement which never materializes. Furthermore, if you "freeze" the Israelis in disputed areas, then you've got to "freeze" the Palestinians in those disputed areas as well; otherwise, it wouldn't be fair. Get the border nailed down first, then everything else will follow fairly easily.

Situation hopeless but not Serious. Palestinian Arabs are highly literate, richer and healthier than people in most other Arab countries, including oil producers, thanks to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and the payments of Western and Arab governments. The optimal solution for the Palestinians is to demand a state and blackmail Western and Arab donors with the threat of violence, but never actually get one. See http://tinyurl.com/lqxxh7 for an analysis of why the peculiar economics of the region will keep things boiling forever.

'what is left to balance the right?' - S 'you and esther.' - CJK You can add an Anglican and former resident of Israel to your count, Cipora. Israel's security is very important to me, and I don't see how it's being helped by settlement building. Bokr tov. MV

Obama must know that these jews don't even like him and disparage his Muslim father - the Europeans are growing tired with this bastard out of Krakow and a new generation is rising - and America is demographically changing rapidly - we are more Catholic and ethnic - once again the jews in their avarice are overstepping their grounds and will lose it ALL AGAIN! History repeats itself on many levels and this has always been the story of the jews.

Many of Israel's detractors (detesters) on this Board use conclusory words such as "racist" and "aparteid" both to make and to conclude their arguments. It would be interesting to see how they would rebut use of those words to describe Israel's neighbors, e.g. can a Jew buy land in (or even live in or move to) each of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, or Gaza? If someone is going to give examples, they should avoid citing the occasional publicity-seeking far left wing outspoken anti-Israel academic, etc.

This approach would buy Netanyahu time; and if he remains the sole arbiter of whether or not the "response" is sufficient...well, hey, it's a win-win, at least in the short term--which is tactics, not overall strategy, but in a variously-divided country, an overall strategy is a bitch to come up with.

Why does Israel need settlements in the other guy's land? Isn't there enough space in Israel to settle these people who are dumb enough to move to the settlements and tick everyone off, especially the US? In the end, when some resolution of this never-ending conflict is reached, and the settlements are abandoned Israel will be bemoaning the amount of time, effort and expense connected with these settlements. As far as the people in the settlements go, the way I see it, if they do not want to leave I'd let them stay there and they would become Palestinian citizens with all of the rights and privileges that Palestinian citizenship confers upon them. There are Israeli Arabs. These clowns will become Palestinian Jews. Enjoy.

so far the arbs in 90 years have failed to negotiate ! their idea of negotiation is to make demands for somthing to which they have no entitlement ! the most recent is for israel not to build towns and villages on its own territory ! the arabs live in some miasma that any land in israel is arab land ! the arab land is jordan !

Just as soon as Hamas shows good faith and releases Shalit Which we all know, will never be in our lifetimes

is concentrated on the lowland of the region.is that a risk we are prepared to take? if we leave the judean hills israel's waist would be a mere few miles.a determined tank attack would quickly cover that.is that what we want.which israeli leader is prepared to risk that?

If Obama was geniunely serious about peace and land for the Palestians he would have offered a piece of land the size of Israel en toto in the state of Texas. After all, California, New Mexico and Texas were annexed from Mexico and they seem to have no qualms about maintaining the land they simply took, at least we have receipts for Israel both in the Bible and in local offices where we paid millions of dollars to purchase back all of the land we currently occupy and more besides. Let Obama pay for all the land he took from Mexico and then he can advise us.

after 500 hundred units are built and it is a strategic move. Abou Mazen should be listening to this . Why should he negotiate then ???? Let Israel cry that there is no body to "negotiate" with . There is no solution that is acceptable to Israel , so blame the Arabs and keep doing what you are doing. In the lon g run , it will bite you in the deriere ...

another bonehead harvey posts complete crap about equal rights !

netanyahu is dedicated to the settlements.all this is tactics.we have met a brick wall in the form of obama.like a good militray strategist netanyahu is taking the path of least resistance.but his target is very much alive. may he succeed.

Well, then give the Israelis what they want: one country... where all have equal rights. See: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3772448,00.html

... that's not the issue, not enough... settlement construction has to cease... and then the dismantling can begin.... and relocating back to Israel... Galilee or Negev or anywhere else... just come home to Israel... bruchim ha-baim...!!!

"Bibi" was probably misspelled. What he meant was "Settlement construction too slow..."

The greedy Arab land grab continues and Bibi has no courage or will to stand up to it. Israel needs someone who can! Arik Sharon made a historical mistake by abandoning Gaza to Hamas and now Bibi is to abandon Eastern Israel to another terrorist group? When will these men learn that Arabs intend to steal all land of the Jewish people as they stole all the land from many others...

but not because they are Jewish but because it is immoral for any people to deny this basic right. But of course that would also include Arabs.It does not seem most Israelis are as moderate as you. Or perhaps you are not moderate? Were you suggesting Jews should be allowed to live anywhere simply because of their religion and people of other religions do not have the same right? If they DO have the same right then it would be OK with you if a few thousand Arabs moved into your neighborhood

"what is left to balance the right?" you and esther. shavua tov, cipora

Jews should be able to live in Palestine just as Muslims and Christians live in Israel. If these people truly love the land (which has no religion) then let them build their homes there. Good for the Palestinian economy Good for Peace Good God, why is nobody talking about this!????

You can built as much settlement as you want you should know that at the end law will apply. The french settler in Algeria represent more than 9%, all of them leave the country and get back to their home in France. I guess soon or later the same will apply to Israel settlement. more than 42 years of occupation is not enough? till when poor Israeli people will continue to pay for this illegal occupation ?

I'd say it is time that the EU, UN and especially the US step up with sanctions against Israel. If Israel wants to continue its land grab and genocide, it should be held accountable. Mr Obama, it is time for you to put your money where your mouth is and let a few UN resolutions get through the UN to show Bibi that we mean business.

It is a real shame you cannot tell that there is a difference between an Israeli and a Jew, Eitan. Maybe if you could recognize that there is a real difference you could have peace. It is your insistence that a home and land must be Jewish and Israeli exclusively that is racist. BTW, how does land convert? Did you notice that some archeologists found a pre-Jewish, pre-Israelite wall in Jerusalem last week? It seems that not all places have always been Jewish in Eretz Israel.

And Barak is also involved??? He calls himself "Center"? What's left to balance the Right?

WAY up- to meet the needs of the fastest-growing segment of Israeli society.

...they are Jewish is nothing short of racism, and Israel must not give a hand to racists, be they Arab, European or North American, to apply their racial theories regarding members of our people. Jews should be permited to reside in any village, town or city neighborhood on earth regardless of their Jewishness, and that is especially true in the Jewish people's historic homeland of Eretz Israel.

It is high time for Israel to be making demands upon the Arabs, starting with territorial concessions from the vast Arab world. Based upon prior precedents in Muslim history going back to the time of Mohammed and his dealings with the Queresh tribe in Mecca, the Arabs will never make peace or accept a Jewish sovereign state in territory they have previously conquered in the name of Allah. Thus, Israel should now begin reclaiming territory it has foolishly given away since the Oslo 'peace' Accords. The Arabs will be forced to accept such demands if they finally realize that the Jewish state is once again so overwhelmingly strong militarily, morally and spiritually that they simply cannot destroy it. About an additional Arab state west of the Jordan (in 4 parts): http://xrl.us/osjq5

We, the Likud electorate, didn't vote for them to do so, and the government doesn't have a mandate to do so.

Bibi made the same mistake by not categorically reversing the failed OSLO accords in 1996. He still has not learned his lesson and why he was elected to begin with. He was elected to stop the Arab occupation and to stop Arab settlements fro growing. He was not elected to destroy Jewish communities and encourage global antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. If Arabs build and this changes facts on the ground than why cannot Jews build? Why the double standard?

"One of Netanyahu's main messages is that Israel has done its part, and that he is now waiting to see what gestures toward normalizing ties Arab states are willing to make." We already know what gestures the Arabs are willing to make. They have told us on several occasions: No compromize, no concessions and no negotiations. No one really expects the answer to change. Then again, saying "NO" one more time will put more control in Netanyahu's hands. Even Obama won't put up with the Arabs' negative response forever. The anti-Obama editorials I have read in the Arab press, accusing him of being a Zionist agent (TRUE!), just may become self-fulfilled prophecies.

or is it? i'll bet a thousand dollars that israel will conjure up something, like a war or a red flag to end the peace process, how do i know? israels been doing it for years, watch and learn.

Bibi's move is incredulous but given the present climate unavoidable. He has to gesture to his right. But they will reject him in the end anyway. Israel now is a country where the PM has an approval rating in the low 20's yet if there was an election today he would probably be re-elected. Israeli governments (right and left) over the past 40 years have created a settlement monster. Now they have to feed the beast. The price is high. They are becoming an international pariah and testing the US. It is their own doing. I don't blame Bibi. This seems to be what the country wants. Who said democracy was the best form of government?

I for one don't think Israel should stop building, the land is God's land. I would inquire of Him before I started freezing any settlement.