Netanyahu: Peace talks with Palestinians 'within weeks'

Why should anyone believe a man who has lied so many times in his past that it is almost impossible to find an occasion when he told the truth?

The pattern thus far is for Netanyahu to announce talks with no preconditions and then the next day, or at most a week later, to announce his dozen to two dozen preconditions or a new building project or a few dozen home demolitions. A fairly predictable pattern. Of course, he could bomb a neighborhood in Rafah or a sewage treatment plant and get the same results.

To which preconditions is the prime minister referring? No return to 67 borders, no division of Jerusalem, Keeping the settlements or acknowledgment of Israel as a "Jewish" state?

He is preparing some pretext to give more land to the settlers. Israelis will fall for the same silliness again and again. Netanyahu and his "peace is just ahead" nonsense have to be removed. Put Livni in charge. At least she is pretty.

another round of "hot air' that contributes to global warming! on the other hand, better talking than shooting!

We have a legacy of truth, justice and helping those least able to help themselves. As Israel moves towards negotiations, that must be our guiding principles. It is time to leave behind those western ways of coveting land, materialism and suppression of the helpless. There is a bond between all peoples that prize the Judaic traditions which form a foundation for the Muslim, Christian and Judaic faiths. Israel can thrive in an Arab world if it learns to treat the Arabs with dignity. This can and should begin with the Palestinians. Itr is time to think of two states where the Palestinians have a viable, governable opportunity to develop without the threat of settlers or IDF intervention on behalt of settlers. Peace can come, but it must be supported by Israel with justice.

No preconditions. So the start of talks are that the Status Quo is the 1967 borders. If Israel of Palestine wants anything else, they have to negotiate it. It looks as if there are going to be 300,000 Jewish Palestinians in Palestine in the near future.

blah blah blah Bored

Oh happy day!

the Palestinians nowhere--never have--never will. Israel loves the "Peace Process" It is a perfect cover for the theft of land and the expansion of the greater Israel. Stick to your guns-Abbas---the Bi National state is at the end of this so called peace process. "Who believes one word Israel says these days. And Israel will have built all those lovely homes complete with swimming pools etc which tens of Thousands of Jews will desert and leave. I wonder if they will expect ROR as they will have voluntarily left their homes. That is the way Israel works that scam---oh well goose and Gander. As to no pre conditions---well it is only 9pm here in Ireland and I bet that by this time tomorrow some Israeli leader--maybe even Netandyahu will be laying out pre conditions.

o, yeah whatever happened to that - thank you drive-by media for the excitement

What 'traditions' and 'Zionism' could he be talking about? From Ben-Gurion's famous letter to his son, quoted in Morris, Righteuos Victims, p. 138: "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." Its clear that Ben-Gurion, and Bibi, include the West Bank as "the whole contry." What he wants to negotiate with the Palestinian elite are the payments that will be made and the legal fictions to be employed to be able to call the Palestinian ghettos of Gaza and a Wet Bank, a "state."

It's quite a hopeful sign the Prime Minister speaks about the upcoming peace talks with the Palestinians. However we have to be mindful of the inflexible sectors of those hardliners in his cabinet and the very religious parties who won't want to permit the tango with two, let alone three parties for the Middle East negotiations! So it's still a difficult task ahead for the Prime Minister.

The role of Israeli PM requires a lot of role playing. Normally, Bibi is not too good at playing the great peace maker. He seems to be getting a little better, but he is still far from convincing.

Netanyahu and his advisors are so far from being taken seriously as diplomats that this latest statement will be received with the contempt is deserves. Israel and the Palestinians and indeed the International community, deserves better than this ramshackle, knee jerk bunch of chancers. Where are the statesmen? The soap opera continues.

I think I lost my optimism. but hope this is goin to be great news...

lol really? r u sure this time? no really? r u sure that teh arabs wont try and do something to jsutify the break down of talks? lol i wont hold my breath, i know isrl will find another way out of these talks.

9:00 am - meeting starts 9:02 am - coffee and bagels 9:03 - no one agrees on the kind of jam, we all go home That was simple, wasn't it. Talk, talk, talk