The plague of darkness has struck modern Israelites

Bring back all the settlers Go back to 67 demarcation borders Complete the border wall 100% Construct border wall around Gaza 100% The global community must help fund the construction of an underground freeway between Gaza & the Westbank. The palestinians MUST be given E Jerusalem as their Capitol. Let the palestinians have their own State (Westbank + Gaza) now!

What do we mean by "Jerusalem"? The Old City? Arab neighborhoods that fall within the present municipality of Jerusalem? Hell, why not extend it all the way to Ramallah? People don't even know what they're talking about when they speak of a "united Jerusalem". It's a mindless slogan repeated by brainwashed ideologues.

It's a positive sign that everything is coming to a head. It means that we are getting closer to a peace deal.

Posted: "...Since a history maven such as yourself is aware that in the year 641 ad the Arab armies conquered Israel, changed to Palestine by the Romans..." First of all there was NEVER a state of Israel until 1948. There was a kingdom of Israel situated in Palestine and thats about it. Posted: "...Please note that Jerusalem was taken and occupied three years after Baghdad and a two years after Damascus..." It seems that you do not know the history of Jerusalem very well, so you should take note that Jerusalem was conquered and occupied by king David when it was a Jesubite city. You need to re-educate yourself before you make such ridiculous posts.

Posted: "...Israel was promised to the Jewish people by G-d and we need nobody`s permission to hold on to what is rightfully ours. All Jewish holy places have been ours for thousands of years were either inherited or purchased for money by our ancestors...' Before G-d "promised" these lands to anyone, let alone Jews, which were not existant when G-d "promised" these lands to Abraham and his decendants, until much much later, there were others living on these lands for many centuries before any Hebrew/Israelite/Jew ever came to these lands. So whatever G-d "promised" does not make it right for anyone to kick out the inhabitants of these lands and claim them as their own. The holy places that you talk about are also holy for many other people of different religions. So if you have the right to claim these holy places as your holy places based on your religous beliefes, they also are entitled to claim them as holy places based on their religious beliefes.

...but read what they want to read in said articles. Take the 1st response (Marc Green) and his strawman arguement. As if that negates anything Mr. Eldar stated. However intelligence doesn't stop there. Take the 2nd response, but a supposed man of the cloth (he needs to learn that this is not black/white and a "one word" answer isn't enough, even if it is "idiot". Take #3: Yes you can, can Palestinians too? #4: NAZIs, really? Has this become the Jewish boogey man word? Well, ya'll get the point.

In reading these talkback messages, I am repeatedly surprised by the amount of posts based on some kind of religious doctrine. It is the year 2010, and yet some people in a supposed civilized Democracy continue to cling to ancient texts written by superstitious and ignorant people from thousands of years ago as a justification for their current horrific behavior. It's bad when the muslims do it, right? So what makes you think that it's ok when you do it? It's ironic that the same people that shrug off the real demands of modern international law and convention turn to those very same ideas when it suits them, such as the UN creation on Israel. Then, it's ok, but now, when those same laws are against you, suddenly you subscribe to a different set of rules. The other bit of irony is that people whose ancestry is based in Europe think that they somehow have more legitimate claims to the land than those who live there now and whose ancestors have lived there for generations.

what the right wing in Israel cant seem to accept is history is history, the world changes for a reason and u cannot at a whim decide to undo hundreds and thousands of years of social evolution and conquest merely on jewish mythology. Phoenicia existed as a documented factual civilisation with lands that stretch through israel and syria way before Israel was ever created. The Israel that exists today is not the biblical mythological Israel, it is a State with borders that was created to give Jews a home in the aftermath of WW2. Unfortunately for the whole world the people that took control of this state have meshed their religious crackery into an idea that what was recreated was the biblical Israel. That Israel is gone forever it will never exist again, and definitly not on the justification that it existed 3000 years ago, if that were a justifiable excuse then Israel has no right to exist as Phoenicia existed before Israel and by Israeli logic has more right to those lands.

Everybody knows that Israels acts are completely illegal, whatever they do, and that Israelis dont care.

its israel that has forgotten that the west bank and gaza are NOT parts of israel. you'll understand what i mean, lol...cuz it'll all come out in the wash... soon.

I've read all the commentary. The extent to which the argument for continued settlements and annexation of East Jerusalem depends on religious concepts doesn't work for me. Sorry. International law must of necessity be a secular matter if only because every religion is a minority in the modern world. The only thing guaranteed to unite everyone else against you is a fundamentalist insistence on holding a monopoly on the truth. The UN invoked state of Israel deserves support on a number of grounds. Fundamentalist interpretations of religious texts is not one of them. This is an excellent article that every Israeli voter should read and understand pretty well represents the rest of the worlds take on the current situation.

when the scales fall from eyes & we see an angry G-d looking down on a G-d rejecting world & He repents of having created such puffed-up worms who think we're king of creation,the highest form of intelegence! ha! He is our shepard, we are His sheep-nothing less, nothing more. PH

Why is it when somebody offers a constructive criticism against Israel people bring up the Nazis? Seriously I'm not saying things are prefect between your two cultures but its about time both sides grew a pair and tried peace. Killing and war are easy...it takes a TRUE warrior to sue for peace.

The US, UN, EU, Russia, China and most of the civilized world were patient enough to wait for South Africa to implode. Where is the Israeli Mandela?

As usual, the frightening and rabid war mongers are out in force, from the comfort of their American and European living rooms. Hypocrites and cowards all...

Akiva you seem to believe all that is Muslim as truth but are too ashamed to stand up for anything Jewish. As an American Jew I see the Jews of Tel Aviv as shameless kapos. Eager to trust an Arab yet scornful of any Jew that stands up for anything that can be considered religious. Why is it that you believe that Israel should kow tow to America? Does Egypt act obsequiously even though it receives as much cash or more from the US? The Arabs have never forsworn their desire to destroy ALL of Israel yet Eldar believes it's all due to the "occupation". Yes, give up ALL the land back to the 1948 borders including that part which Jordan illegally occupied and the Arabs will live in peace with secular Israel. Eldar and his friends will be able to "hang" with their Muslim friends as long as he pays the dhimmi tax. But why assume that a Jew will even be allowed to live with the Arabs. If Eldar's vision comes through he better not look for new housing in my neighborhood. He is not welcome.

Your post is nonsensical. The Palestinians don't have the right to occupy the WB and Gaza because of any ancient history or mythology. No one is entitled to anything because of ancient history. Only Zionists want the bad old days of conquest and slaughter forever. Only Zionists believe events 1000s of years ago should in some way dictate modern affairs. In the modern world, all humans are seen by the international community as equal, with the same rights and entitlements. The obsession with ancient history is a Jewish thing not accepted anywhere else in the world. Just as Britain and the Romans have no right to claim lands they once conquered and ruled, Israelite and Palestinian history are irrelevant to the ownership of WB land. The Palestinians were in possession of this land when the international law principle that land shall not be acquired by war was adopted by the UN long before 1967. That is all that is relevant.

...or does it in. "Since a history maven such as yourself is aware that in the year 641 ad the Arab armies conquered Israel, changed to Palestine by the Romans." FOX. Actually, The Arabs conquered Palestine, the name of which was changed by the Romans from Judea, not Israel. Israel was conquered well over a thousand years earlier than that, by another beast entirely, the Assyrians. Now some other little factoids in your post. Yes every power that be, built his Temple or place of worship over the Temple of the onethat went before. No doubt Solomon built his Temple on some ancient Jebusite site. As if only Muslims build over others holy places? Christianity has a long record of doing the same and of course Israel destroyed well over a hundred mosques post 1948, so it is common currency as they say to replace the other fellows place of worship or destroy it. The Muslims were more circumspect on this score than the Christians but you would not know that either. You should also bear in mind that the Arabs built their al Aqsa mosque, not ON the existing Temple, but on the site of the Byzantine church built by Justinian, which stood there at the time of the Arab invasion. Never mind, you can only know what you know. Also, it was not built over the holy of holies you heathen, but the chanuyot. Some believe that the old Temple had been located north of the Dome of the Rock[not al Aqsa at all] while others believe that it was south of the Dome of the Rock, but still not al Aqsa], but you would not know that. of the site of the But I wonder FOX if you knew that Jews aided the Arabs in their conquest of Jerusalem? [Byzantines were not so kindly to those Jews you see and forbade them from entering Jerusalem] A ban lifted by the Arabs.[but of course you would not have known that either. Happy pesach.

no more no less Israel has never legally annexed ANY territory. The West Bank and Gaza are not Israeli. Nor is the Golan. Nor are 30% of the territories Israel claims as it's own. Israel's actual territories (not those illegally acquired by war or illegally annexed) are quite ample for the world's entire Jewish population. "Even if Israel were to annex the West Bank and Gaza," So they aren't Israeli... You're so changeable.. Education, wonderful stuff http://wp.me/PDB7k-Y#look

Mr. Eldar, as he does so often, has written a provacative and correct analysis of Israel's situation. Israel's current blindness will not serve her long term interests. To be sure, the Palestinians wear their own set of self-destructive blinders. It may take the U.S. and the international community to force BOTH parties to face up to the tough but necessary choices each must take for peace.

The phrase "anti-Semitic", referring only to Jews is racist. It implies that although Arabs are indeed Semites who speak a Semitic language, they are not human enough to be considered part of that group. This is part Jewish ethnocentricity, part 19th century American and European skin color racism. That phrase, "anti-Semitic", is a microcosm for many of the issues that Arabs and Jews are dealing with in Israel and Palestine.

The rightists are taking us down a course of self-destruction with astonishing speed. And, sadly, so few Israelis are taking a proper stand against this approach which threatens the very basis of democracy and a decent society.

The whole world either keeps forgetting for refuses to accept that the West Bank and Gaza are part of Israel too and Israel can uproot all the non-Jews and reclaim those areas for themselves. After all, it was all part of Israel anyway. And look how large the Arab world is. Israel is just this tiny wedge-shaped country that's nearly half desert! And the whole conflict over land is happening only because the Arab world refuses to allow the Palestinians to emigrate to any of their countries. If anti-Semitism around the world gets any worse, then be watching for a mass exodus to Israel by Jews from every country. Israel will need to make room. Even if Israel were to annex the West Bank and Gaza, there are areas in Lebanon and Jordan that were part of Israel. Look it up on a map of Israel as it existed 3,000 years ago. There are about 13 million Jews worldwide. If the Diaspora decides that it's time once again to purge itself of the "Zionist Menace" by massed exile, where will they go?

Self-serving paranoia --the entire world is against us, only what we do matters, not what they say, the arabs now and always just want to kill us has been the cover for land grabs, ethnic cleansing etc. Now the fever pitch under Bibi and his gang. Calling it blindness is actually too generous.

It is true that not only Jews but also Christians and Muslims in the past have promoted their religion by brutal force. My comment was not about that. It was about the false claim that the Jews were the original settlers in Palestine. The book of Joshua describes the genocide by which the Jewish people established itself in a land that was already inhabited. This second time the Jews try to be a bit more human. They just starve and torment the original population, hoping that it will finally vanish in the air. And in our times, the world does not accept such behaviour.

Bring back all the settlers Go back to 67 demarcation borders Complete the border wall 100% Construct border wall around Gaza 100% The global community must help fund the construction of an underground freeway between Gaza & the Westbank. The palestinians MUST be given E Jerusalem as their Capitol. Let the palestinians have their own State (Westbank + Gaza) now!

Palestine by 2011. Finally these poor souls will get their long awaited freedom. They will for the first time then give birth to their children in freedom and not in the muddy ditches next to laughing occupation soldiers. If there's a God, he will come down heavy on those that participated in this ruthless occupation.

" We have too much at stake to experiment with peaceful co-existence" Aye... all that illegally acquired territory.. "The Quartet are the same powers that before world war II agreed not to take in any Jewish refugees from Europe." Before WWII refugees .. seegufer IIWW erofeB "Where was the indignation and invocation of the Fourth Geneva Convention when Russia marched into Georgia recently" Are they occupying it? What were the violations of the 4th GC? "When the USA almost flattened Afghanistan looking for the head of Al Quaida" You protested against the WOT, right? "The UN should ensure that the existential threats against Israel, as a member of the UN, are condemned." But not condemn Israel's breeches? " In the absence of any support from the UN Israel has only one option; to look after its own security" Then take it's citizens back behind it's acknowledged boundaries instead of populating "territories occupied" with them

if i remember my histiry correctly there were jewish groups,including future pm,who where blowing up the british at every oportunity.

"...you obivously do not accept the arguments of Palestinians laying claim to the area." Palestinians are not all Muslims. Palestinians are not all religious. Palestinians are from Palestine. THAT is their claim. Not religion. "..jerusalem was never the big prize for Islam, since it contains no Islamic Holy sites" The Mosque is a house of worship Muslims built to the same Go/-d that Jews & Christians worship. It is a holy site. "The Al Aqsa mosque was built on the Jewish Holy of Holies simply to make the area Moslem" Arabs controlled the area at the time. They happened to be Muslims. They built the mosque on the ruins of a CHURCH in respect of the same God Jews & Christians worship. It's a house of worship built in the style of the builders. They should build in someone else's style? A Synagogue perhaps?

This is not about what happened 3000 years ago. It's all about now. There are real people out there being evicted, seeing their teenage boys killed, their homes bulldozed, their land stolen and their olive groves ruined. The bully from Brooklyn or the rabid rabbi from Russia have absolutely no right in this context. It's about Law, Justice and morals.

Gocha!

Benighted are those who advocate a separate PA state alongside israel. Blind to the facts that the PA do NOT , ever, want to co-exist with Israel. They want to destroy it. What pieces they can get from the piece process they will take and then continue their jihad. We have too much at stake to experiment with peaceful co-existence. The Quartet are the same powers that before world war II agreed not to take in any Jewish refugees from Europe. Their advice and ?friendship? is only as long as its convenient. Where was the indignation and invocation of the Fourth Geneva Convention when Russia marched into Georgia recently. When the USA almost flattened Afghanistan looking for the head of Al Quaida. The UN should ensure that the existential threats against Israel, as a member of the UN, are condemned. In the absence of any support from the UN Israel has only one option; to look after its own security. This includes, ensuring safe borders and control that neighboring states don?t prepare arsenals wherewith to attack it. All requests from the PA in the Peace process are items that endanger the existence of the State of Israel. Israel does not have to comply. The PA have proven that they cannot be trusted. Before any more concessions are give to them, they should start making ?confidence building gestures?.

"The author of this article presents views which are both anti-semitic and neglectful of the true facts, this article is filled with lies and distortions of the truth." Point it out... "Israel was promised to the Jewish people by G-d .." Not all Israelis are Jews. Not all Jews are Israeli. Israel is bound by the laws HUMANS made because Go/-d deserted us during the Holocaust. You wanna buy another bridge?

Israel has never kept any arab from creating a palestinian state. If the US wants to establish a palestinian state, let them declare one in Dearborn, Michigan, or any other place they wish. The truth is there are more palestinian arabs living in the US than there are in Israel.

since you consider the Jews the conquerers of a land settled by others, then you obivously do not accept the arguments of Palestinians laying claim to the area. Since a history maven such as yourself is aware that in the year 641 ad the Arab armies conquered Israel, changed to Palestine by the Romans. Please note that Jerusalem was taken and occupied three years after Baghdad and a two years after Damascus. It is poignant to note in this time of what Eldar calls the darkness, that jerusalem was never the big prize for Islam, since it contains no Islamic Holy sites. The Al Aqsa mosque was built on the Jewish Holy of Holies simply to make the area Moslem. Just as Islam built in Ayyouthya India, on the site of what the Hindus consider the birthplace of the god Ram, or the turning of the Aya Sophia Byzantine church in Istanbul into a mosque. I find it interesting to read those who consider Jewish "mythology" useless tripe, seem to cling to Moslem "mythology" as truth.

A palestinian state is nowhere in sight. It doesn't do to say: We are independent! What about economic and political infrastructure? Since 80% of palestinians live on UNRWA, this state will have a lot of difficulties to face.

It is funny to see how criticism towards the wrongful policies of Israel towards ILLEGALLY occupied territory is always seem as anti-Semitic. From where I stand (non-Arab, non-Jewish - just a Latin American who likes politics), I see a growing concern around the world that Israel is creating an apartheid based on empty claims over illegally occupied territory. From where I stand, I agree with the author of this article and see a world that is sick of Israel's disregard for International Law. It is sickening. The tide is quickly changing and Israel should ask itself WHY AND HOW it has lost the support of the world for its cause. WE, THE WORLD, WANT A PALESTINIAN STATE IN PEACE WITH A THRIVING ISRAEL.

....that the Israeli people are a smart people. Well, she obviously didn't know by then about the Israel of 2010. Sorry to say, but a people that is unable to realize, what (demographical) fate it will meet, if it doesn't start working actively for a 2-state solution now, is NOT a smart people....

Adam you schmok, the Palestinians were offered peace several times from Arafat right down to Abbas and they refused.EVERY time.

This is how the planet sees the situation, Israeli's and Palestinians find it very hard to look from an 'outside' perspective. If there isn't peace here then Islam will get more fundamental for the youth, we are surrounded by Muslim countries, we need them moderate, but Israeli policies just like American foreign policies seem designed to antagonize.

is that the international community stood back momentarily, and took a deep and thoughtful breath, before continuing with the norm. And now, since that time, there have been subtle changes to what is heard from Western nations, along with an increasing number of whispers about U.N. approval of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood within the 1967 borders. What Fayyad unleashed on the international community that day, which had never been noticed before, is a simple and straight forward solution to end an international dilemma which has grown in proportions for well over 40 years. A solution as obvious as the nose on their faces, yet completely overlooked for so long, just like the nose on their faces. And Israel's insistence that any final status must be negotiated between the two parties is in essence true. However, what has unfolded over the last year has made it crystal clear that Israel isn't as interested in those negotiations as it is in accelerating the expansion of its settlements, which has highlighted even further, that its interests are NOT in reaching a final status agreement; nor will they ever be for as long as the status quo is maintained for it to continue its encroachment unhindered. And so what would make final status negotiations more of a priority to Israel than its settlement expansion? Whether he knew it or not at the time he announced his goals, Fayyad's plan to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, and U.N. recognition of that state, would shift Israel's focus from settlement building, to negotiating the salvage of its larger settlement blocks in the West Bank. It would really not have any other viable alternative in the face of international concensus.

"All Jewish holy places have been ours for thousands of years were either inherited or purchased for money by our ancestors." Not really. The book of Joshua describes the genocide by which the Jewish people established itself in a land that was already inhabited. The Jews were not the original settlers in Palestine.

You have not kept up with the times... When a gentile expresses an opinion that, in a theoretical sense, indicates that maybe it is not completely impossible for Israel or individual Jews to, on some level, make not mistakes but perhaps slightly imperfect decisions: THAT is anti-Semitism. Now when the same opinion is expressed by a Jew we call them "self-hating Jews". Please get with the program.

Is not cool no matter who does it. Get a freaking clue!

... not by a regular government... settler shtadlanim (lobbyists) slowly but surely wormed their way into every level of government... we live now only by messianic dictates... Bibi has no common language with USA or EU... he talks messianic and calls it "defence"...

Dear Akiva Eldar, Chag Sameach. May I kindly remind you that the very rabbi who you are named after is mentioned in the Haggadah. Our Haggadah reads,"It happened that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarphon were reclining [at a seder] in Bnei Berak. They were discussing the exodus from Egypt all that night..." What were they doing in B'nai Berak? Akiba and his many elders joined Bar Kochva and called for revolt against the Romans who ruled the land of Israel. Akiva and his many pupils joined Bar Kochva and fought as part of the rebellion. We remember your namesake Rabbi Akiva not only as a wise Rabbi but also as a courageous fighter." Which Akiva are you? It seems that you advocate that the very freedom we are reminded to cherish during Passover should be given away for the sake of political expediency and falsehood...Next Year in Jerusalem should means "ALL OF JERUSALEM." Curious to hear your interpretation of this fact.

Israel will not make peace on its own, so it is incumbent upon the World to force Israel to accept a viable Palestinian State with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital. Much like the UN imposed the Jewish State of Israel upon the Arabs, it is time for the UN to impose the State of Palestine upon Israel. This is what is necessary.

The world is now beginning to speak in one voice and will force Israel to return to the Green Line. The more the present day Israelis resist this necessity, the more the world is going to push back. The days of obfuscation, lies, re-writing history and arrogance are over.

I am in complete agreement with Eldar. Can we not see that the Palestinians are our brothers and sisters, and that we need to recognize their homeland just we ask them to recognize ours? Let us share Jerusalem and open our hearts. The Middle East grows more precarious and more dangerous every day. The Quartet has got it right. Let's get it done!

Binyamin, First-thank you for politely disagreeing with me. Blogs can sometimes be rough. Second-Here's why I don't agree with your theory of me being an Arab. I have a family history of being a cohen. I also had my DNA tested by the a famous DNA testing lab and here's what they had to say about my background. Cohen Modal Haplotype - 12 Marker Match (out of 12 markers being tested) "... if you have an oral tradition of being Cohanim, then you most likely are genetically a Cohen."

You think you are a Cohanim and therefore chosen by Yaweh to rule over the Palestinians? You should have read the science, bubabah. You are an Arab. From Wikipedia: "Further study published in 2009 found new markers and better defined J1c3*(J-P58*). The researchers demonstrated that 46.1% of Cohanim carry Y chromosomes belonging to a single paternal lineage (J-P58*) that likely originated in the Near East well before the dispersal of Jewish groups in the Diaspora. Support for a Near Eastern origin of this lineage comes from its high frequency in our sample of Bedouins, Yemenis (67%), and Jordanians (55%) and its precipitous drop in frequency as one moves away from Saudi Arabia and the Near East (Fig. 4). Moreover, there is a striking contrast between the relatively high frequency of J-58* in Jewish populations (»20%) and Cohanim (»46%) and its vanishingly low frequency in our sample of non- Jewish populations that hosted Jewish diaspora communities outside of the Near East.{11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_J1e_(Y-DNA)#cite_note-10

The talkback here sounds like people who are unwilling to move foward. Who rather forsake the lives of their families for their own egos. Life among many people in this world is cheaper than the lives of their families.

The author of this article presents views which are both anti-semitic and neglectful of the true facts, this article is filled with lies and distortions of the truth. Israel was promised to the Jewish people by G-d and we need nobody's permission to hold on to what is rightfully ours. All Jewish holy places have been ours for thousands of years were either inherited or purchased for money by our ancestors.

And yes, we, who aren't Israeli or Palestinian are very concerned. The world sees exactly what's going on from this perpsective the autor writes in this post. It seems like the only one that sees the things on the opposite is Israeli government. Palestinians have the right to have a state and come back to the land where they were born, like you do. That's the true, and if you can't see that, you'll have war forever...plus, you won't have the support of any country. Do something for your country!!! peace is justice and justice hurts, but is the only way to achieve it. Nice pesach to you all.

never made it out of egypt (to this very day).

Decided to be blind

"Almost 2000 years ago we fought to the death against the Romans for this city." Now you are the Romans and you want to scatter the Palestinians into a diaspora. At your Pesach seder, beware what you wish for. At mine, I will wish for a bi-national state where Jews and Arabs will share the land, one person one vote. It is the Palestinians who now intone, "Next Year In Al Aqsa."

voices of reason have been systematicaly silenced by right wing nuts, all you hear is intolerance hate and bigotry .these morons are the true enemies of israel like a disease ,they are destroying israel from within!

If Israel has a legitimate and reasonable alternative to the Arab initiative it should be presented now. They can agree to submit any differences to binding arbitration where each side picks an arbitrator and the two arbitrators pick a third arbitrator. Majority findings are binding. The AAA can handle this. The site can be the UN in New York.

Darkest. You, baby, don't know what the darkest is.

Almost 2000 years ago we fought to the death against the Romans for this city. Do they honestly think we wouldn't do it again? This is not about the peace process-this is about us waking up to who we are. Thank you Avigdor Lieberman. May you be blessed. Signed, A Jew-not an "ultraorthodox" extremest. P.S.-Can we come finally come home ?

wOW. HOW SOON WE FORGET THAT PALESTINIANS BLEW UP JEWISH BUSES DURING THE PEACE PROCESS AND GAVE OUT CANDY TO REJOICE DEAD JEWS.