Netanyahu has rejected one U.S. package too many
After Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of one too many sweetened deals, the Americans are now refocusing their efforts - moving closer in spirit to the Madrid process.
By Akiva EldarPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues are reminiscent of the families profiled on Alon Gal's series on Channel 2, who buy everything they can get their hands on in installments. At the end of the month, when the bank says they have defaulted and closes their accounts, they blame the rest of the world.
For the past year and a half, ever since his promising speech at Bar-Ilan University, Netanyahu's shopping basket has been bursting with American-made goodies: brand new fighter jets, an entry ticket into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a flak jacket against the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and a life preserver against the ripple effect of the flotilla incident. Moreover, the police chief of the free world granted his client Netanyahu free parking in the West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements, after construction there had ostensibly been frozen for 10 months.
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| Photo by: Amos Biderman |
The prime minister was supposed to pay for all this by entering into serious talks with the Palestinians on the core issues of the conflict. Hard currency indeed; but Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Netanyahu's right-hand man, and the one who is supposed to represent the left in the government, convinced everyone that Bibi wouldn't leave without paying.
Payment time came during the spring. Over the course of the proximity talks, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas deposited with U.S. envoy George Mitchell a detailed proposal on permanent borders and security arrangements in the territories. Netanyahu invented excuses about political liquidity difficulties and obtained more and more arrangements by which he could pay in installments.
When the time came to renew the moratorium at the end of September, U.S. President Barack Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Netanyahu with a bargain package: a squadron of F-35 fighter planes and a commitment to veto proposals made in international forums for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. All this in return for a public Israeli commitment to a three-month moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements and to avoid provocations in East Jerusalem.
After such a tempting deal failed to pass in the cabinet, the Americans finally concluded that Netanyahu was merely leading them by the nose. But they're not certain whether Barak knowingly sold them a pig in a poke, or whether he too (like President Shimon Peres ) believed the prime minister really had changed.
When Clinton recently invited Kadima leader Tzipi Livni to a private meeting, this signified an unofficial announcement that Netanyahu's account in Washington has been closed. Clinton's speech, in which she demanded that Netanyahu once and for all declare where he proposes the border should run between the two states about which he spoke at Bar-Ilan, was a public declaration of the revolution in the relations between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations.
The American policy makers have come to the conclusion that the current government and a permanent status agreement are oxymorons. As such, they are no longer interested in hearing Netanyahu's and Barak's excuses about "coalition problems." There go the installments, discounts and bargains.
In American eyes, the resignation of the right-wing partners, Kadima joining the government and even early elections, have become necessary steps toward achieving an agreement between Israel and the Arabs. Twelve years ago, when Hillary Clinton's husband realized that Sara Netanyahu's husband had no intention of honoring his signature (on the Wye River Accord with Yasser Arafat ), that was Netanyahu's last stop before being sent back to his villa in Caesarea.
Western winds
Obama and Clinton aren't going to collect the debt themselves. The bloated liability has been dispatched to bailiffs' offices around the world. Latin America has already sent a first warning, prior to recognition of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. A second warning is now being issued by the European Union. A letter calling upon the EU to exact a price from Israel has been signed by 26 outstanding European leaders of the past decade - an initiative riding on the tailwind from across the Atlantic.
The European Union has already taken away from Israel the carrot of upgrading relations. If Mitchell leaves empty-handed again, it will bring out the stick.
The meeting Mitchell is expected to have this week with Arab League representatives is one worth paying attention to, as it is the first step on the new route adopted by the Obama administration after direct negotiations hit a dead end. A senior EU source explained to me yesterday that we are now seeing a combination of a return to the Madrid process - which was initiated 19 years ago by the elder George Bush - and the Arab peace initiative of March 2002. Their common denominator is the pursuit of a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Arab nations on the basis of June 1967 borders.
In addition to direct and separate talks between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, the Syrians, and the Lebanese, the 1991 Madrid Conference also launched multilateral tracks between Israel and the countries of the region on a series of issues - among them: arms control, water, economic cooperation and a solution to the refugee problem.
Obama recently renewed his efforts to bring the Syrians into the circle of negotiations and to extract from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states positive signals toward the Israel public. The buzz from such moves has encouraged the head of the Hamas government in Gaza and even its boss in Damascus, Khaled Meshal, to promise they won't undermine an agreement and will be content with submitting it to a pan-Palestinian referendum.
In all likelihood, these initiatives will have to wait for the next Israeli government. The Arabs, too, have lost their last shreds of trust in the current government's intentions to achieve peace. And they, too, are pinning many hopes on Livni.
Contrary to the claim made by a New York Times commentator that Abbas rejected Ehud Olmert's generous proposal, the woman who was the foreign minister in his government has said on a number of occasions that the Palestinians did not reject this proposal and that it is sitting on the shelf waiting for an Israeli partner.
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Netanyahu seems to have forgotten the lesson of Yitzhak Shamir
For my part and as a citizen and tax payer of US, I would like my country to stop the efforts of being a peace broker between Israel and the Palestinians. As the 1978 Camp David agreements, this is about money and we need it here for our own people. Nearly 8 billion dollars annually and as a gift are paid to Israel and Egypt in order to live in peace with each other. What sort of peace is this? Peace for more money? Learn to live for the future of your own people and move on.
You will say NO to the whole world until the whole world will say NO to Israel. Then we'll see how long your lonely NO-state can survive all on its own.
Israel out to win favor and please the World. He and Barak are both in it together. The Roly Poly little Napoleon, Barak, is Bibi's toady. Perhaps Bibi is , in reality , Barak's toady !
America's foreign policy of Bribe-Bully-Bomb is an abject failure, especially with Israel. Our so-called "alliance" with this flyspeck nation is a lose-lose situation that only harms us, but there isn't a politician in the U.S. with the testicular fortitude to cut it loose. We are the world's biggest sucker.
Very good article if it turns out to be true. Any US President really cannot be seen to very publicly defer to a small country that is in breach of international law; and whose breaches are the cause celebre of the Arab World. I'm sure Obama knows that, and while it will be difficult to challenge the Jewish lobby, I don't think he can afford not to. (In fact I think he can bring most of them with him). And Netanyahu so far has given him no reason to not push for what we all know needs to be the end deal.
.... We all knew, and know now, what Netanyahu wants and what the Palestinians want. ... Obama didn't want to know? Why wait 2 years to arrive at that joke of Bibi now? I tell you why: to postpone the obvious as long as possible (same with nuclear Iran by the way) because nobody ever had, or has now, any idea what to do. Meanwhile, of course, this government built I don't know how many more houses. Who can say Netanyahu is not smart? Yitzak Shamir was doing the same before him. YET, THIS APPEARS TO ME GUTTER SMARTNESS. It works until it's destroyed. Big ....... God help us all, Israelis and Palestinians. Neither us, nor they, will gain anything out of the intifada that's coming. Perhaps even war ... Still, only agreements can save us all from utter misery. Unless the Palestinians want a disaster. BECAUSE THEY WANT TOO MUCH ! THE IMPOSSIBLE ... the refugees, for example ... or throwing out hundreds of thousands of settlers? ... And other pretensions impossible to accept. The result of the Arabs' NO.NO.NO's and miserable acts such as that of the Lebanese keeping them in utter misery for 60 years ... and so on. I wanted to point out that, AS ALWAYS, there is never only one side that is totally right and another totally wrong. In despite of this good newspaper, it takes almost always ONE SIDE ONLY BEING WRONG. Like this article ...
... maybe he didn't realize what sort of gamble it would turn out to be...
good
If anyone even suggests that Jews should/could/would leave any part of the Land of Israel, he does not deserve to even live here, much less be a leader. Let him go to Manhattan with Olmert's kids.
Apparently so, but it appears he needed some outsiders to actuallly point him to the relevent part of that speech. He obviously couldn't see it for himself, because he - like all zionist commentators - have a permanent blind-spot when it comes to mention of the "Arab Initiative". So he - like all other Israeli commentators - didn't notice that Hillary appears to have picked that Arab plan up and voiced her new-found approval of it.....
so what ??? no one elected clinton to the knesset
Fer' cryin' out loud, Hillary as much as screamed out the change of policy on the Saudi Plan: "And Israel should seize the opportunity presented by this initiative while it is still available." That marks the first time ANY American official has moved beyond merely thanking the Saudis for their Very Interesting Initiative to actually TELLING Israel to pull their finger out and pick the damn document up. And the number of Israeli commentators who spotted it? Ans: until today, zero.....
should, could, would, what can be espected from a bunch of shop keepers. Only warning the crunch still can be stopped but it is on it's way. Mind you, the first minute of the second world war started in december 1921 with the arms limitation treaty in Washington (On caliber of guns and size of Batlleships) later it flared in spain etiopia and china and by 1939 reached full bloom . Stop this Tsipy .
I would just add one thing. Obama knew from the start that Netanyahu will reject everything and was out to expose him.
It's welcomed by the other side's partner for non-peace. YAWN, how boring!
"Israel, when a country that has lavished billions on you over the last 50 years, and taken up your defense in countless international forums, asks you to halt settlements for 3 months to get peace talks going, there is only one right answer, and it is not "how much", it is "whatever you want, because you're our only true friend in this world". From an American perspective, can a people be more ungrateful than the Israelis have shown over the past few weeks....??? Honestly, (and from a European perspective) I don't think so.....
Netanyahu has refused to negotiate in good faith. Obama does not matter because Obama is not imposing anything. Obama not offering more incentives and withdrawing prior offers is natural. The US owes Netanyahu nothing. But Netanyahu thinks we do for some reason. The US has a relationship with the country of Israel, but not with a duplicitous Prime Minister. Let Netanyahu rise or fall on his own. He is the Israeli choice and if you want him, keep him or discard him. If he stops being duplicitous, fine, if not the US can wait.
This is about the soverign state of Israel caving to the liberal agenda from Washington that is not in the best interest. I can't blame them from walking away. They probably figure they have a weak Obama with only 2 years left before he has to run for reelection. This situation is one that they can wait to see if they don't end up with a more Israel friendly President. Certainly, Obama is a lot of things but obviously no study of history. The Israelites are the only ones with claim to that land. How do I know this? Because history teaches us that the Israelites killed very living person that was upon that land for the very purpose of preventing an heir from making a later claim. Yet here we are only this time it's due to squatters
ancient israelis commited genocide on the true owners of the land so they could later claim it for themselves ? apart from condemning such a disgusting perspective, id like to point out that you are also horrendously wrong.
when Obama asks for more positive signals from Arab states he will never find any of them. Not because they are angry or refuse to provide more, but as they already submitted all their own positive signals in vain. The track, then, is only a bilateral one between US and Israel, please when they finish the deal just notify the Arab countries. I wonder if Israel needs peace or not?. As the view of point says that Israel is a conflict-based body acquires more popularity, Israel hasn't proved vice versa steps but several wars and attacks.
You don't take your landlord to court and ask for peace and maybe a hug. It's the court of public opinion, since the US neutered the UN with its veto. You still want peace? Well justice is a prerequisite. So get on with it.
unable, uncapable, out of ideas , out of cigars go home already . And let the job for serious politicians.
Can you imagine another country trying to give the US a peace pckg to work out difficulties in their own country? NOT! This is so lame, it isn't even worth mentioning. Israel will do what it wants and the US will do the same, and every country out there better start learning to do the same, or be owned by another country 'nuff said.
.. looks like they still believe to be invincible, unaffected by any pressure, well life's a time of permanent learning, and they will have to learn too.
Twisted article. Remember the League of Nations prior to the UN? Greater amount of land was offered to the Palastinian's and they turned it down. No other Arab nation wants them and have left them as Nomads. They operate as Terrorists and just call it like it is. It has nothing to do with land rather everything to do with destroying Israel.
It is about time we pulled the plug on Israel, now we know they would never negotiate an honest fair agreement. We could have had a Palestinian State years ago if it wasn't for Israels foot dragging. The time is now for these countries to live in peace, without Hamas participation.
We might consider sending Bebe a strong message by signing a mutual defense agreement with Iran, sort of a nixon in china moment, albeit political suicide at home for the prez.
The United States government does not need HAARETZ nor AKIVA ELDER to tell us what we think. Further, your left-wing bias is counterproductive to our attempt to bring a long-lasting resolution to the Middle East, especially to Palestinian-Israeli relations. Had Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted the “US offer” it would have been redefined and left dangling in front of him and Israel to gain a continued stream of further future concessions. The word from the Palestinian Authority is clear, both in Arabic and English. They have announced clearly that nothing is changed from their viewpoint in more than 30 years. Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the rest of what is currently recognized by the entire international community as Israel will become part of one larger entity in which the Moslems will dominate. The West Bank and East Jerusalem will be Jew-free. The Palestinian Authority will have operational control over all of the religious sites in Jerusalem, including Jewish, Muslim and Christian. Tzipi Livini is destructive to both Israel and the United States. When she undercuts the Israeli government in order to gain personal political advantage she actually makes it harder for our administration to shuttle back and forth with legitimate proposals. Ehud Barack is not in government to represent the left but to represent all Israelis. When you should focus on Syria, Iran, Lebanon (Hezbollah) and coping with the problems in Gaza (Hamas). When you have solutions that make sense the world will thank you. Otherwise ,you are part of the problem. My government's view of you is shared the key individuals that we interact with in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and even within the Palestinian Authority Hezbollah and Hamas. I wish I could have some kind words for you, but I can even give you credit for sincerity.
We should not have to PAY for another peace. Theseare their lands and they should carry on their relationship without our dollar. rwe
Is Israel the donkey that needs to be led by a carrot and then hit with a stick? What complete nonsense. No wonder Jews have were persecuted for generations - an attitude like that! Why does Eldar seek global democratic approval as the basis for whats right? Is she blind to the reality that Israel is the state for the self-determination of the Jews in a vast region where democracy is unheard of? Should we go along with the UN GEN ASSMBLY where Arabs can outvote Israel by a large majority to determine what our goals are? Appeasement does not work in non-riciprocal environment!!!!!
There is plenty of blame to go around for both sides. the root of the problem is that the orthodox think all Palestine belongs to Israel. They remind me of how the USA violated every last treaty with the indians as we pushed westward on this continent. the Palestinians have been there for 2000 years, even thought the Jews were not responsible for being kicked out by the romans. Until the Israeli govt stops using 2000 year old maps, and fixes its politics, they are more trouble then they are worth. Throw the right wing Israelis into the west bank and give the mess to the Palestinians. Free the reasonable Israelis from the yoke of our own Jewish religious extremists. And recognizer that the moving of the capital to Tel Aviv is the disaster. Again religious extremism.
Dude, the GOP and even some Democrats are not going to let Obama shove a deal down Israel's throat. And if Bibi's coalition collapses it will be because of religious fights between Shas & Yisrael, not because of Livni!
what amazes me most is the fact that so many of you Americans coming on daily base to this site and post your "insightful" comments about what we Israelis should do, who and who not to elect, with whom we need to sign agreements, where to draw our borders and so on and so force. And I am asking myself do they (you) truly believe that you have any right what so ever to tell us how to live?! Do you truly believe that your stinking $3 billions that US government give us annually (from which most of the money goes back to you and essentially indirectly subsidies US defense industry) give you any rights?! Can you imagine Israelis pile up on New York Time or Washington Post site and writing all kinds of comments about your health care reform, tax cuts, bailouts, Iraq/Afghanistan wars, hah? Hard to imagine, right? Just go and check how many guys from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Petach Tikvah posted there, I bet - NONE! But here from LA to NYC all America is here telling us what to do. Amazing! What makes it event worse is that 99% of you guys so profoundly uneducated about our history, history of the region, people live here, their mentality, relegion and so many other issues involved here that is I just feel pity for your. So may I give you a piece of good advice and for free: save your time and energy for other things, mind your own business and let us mind ours and that will make World a better place trust me in that. G-d bless you all!
Ze'ev, you talk as if Americans have no interest in this. Aren't Israeli's constantly meddling in US affairs, trying to get us to attack others for them? Israeli leaders go to the US to use AIPAC to interfere with the legislative process. Israel stands proudly because it is under the US umbrella. I don't see the Italian government using Italian-Americans to try to influence US policy, and what Italy does doesn't reflect on the US. So, yes, American are affected by what Israel does.
In US government circles I was a strong opponent of the US-led coalition invasion of Iraq. I strongly believed that the US could only maintain one thrust and that Iran was a greater danger for which we had to preserve both our will and our capability. Later (because of my very strong opposition) I was appointed cochair of the group to evaluate the reasons for going to war and exactly what had been accomplished. Much to my surprise I discovered that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled a huge store of chemicals and the means to turn them into chemical weapons. Also he had maintained in government employment (in scientific but not in nuclear activities) approximately 2/3 of his key scientists. The leaders of his early nuclear weapons development program estimated that Saddam Hussein had the intention and the capabilities of reconstituting his nuclear development program as soon as sanctions failed (which they were at that time at a very rapid pace). The wiki leaks have shown that most of the Arab countries surrounding Iran advocated attacks upon her. My experience is that Israel expected that any attack on an Arab country would result in severe retaliation against Israel's population. Thus both AIPAC and the Israeli government officials I dealt with always urged caution. It is a blood libel for anyone to say otherwise. "Clarity" is voicing the very anti-Semitic and anti-Israel line propagated by those who create reasons to hate Jews. It is unfortunate that "clarity's" remarks appear in Ha'aretz. Your readers deserve better.
Squabble away USA until it is all gone...
Can't quite confirm if the Arabic term for a better situation is "fedmara" as I've heard my parents use over the years, but indeed a much better peace proposal for the whole region including the Palestinian-Israeli dispute would be the peace proposal initiative set by the Arab League of 2002. It's difficult to assess PM Netanyahu and we're really wasting time evading the crucial essence of the territorial conflict, which are the core issues, and not attempting to figure out what's his plan. If he's there to deliver the peace with the rest of his coalition, all for the better because they are a difficult bunch. However, the goal is set for 2011 to formulate the peace agreement towards end of conflict so it's understood the Obama administration wants to move forward.
If Israel accepts it the end result would be two states, one of which is all Arab and which would join Jordan in notime. The other state would be Israel with Muslim majority. You can guess what happens then. Jews are not allowed to live in any Arab country. This is exactly what "just solution to refugee problem" means.
Go ahead give away Jerusalem to a religion that has only been around for about 1400 years. Israel has been there for more than 3000 years. Whose homeland does that make it? When Jordan controlled the Old City they walled up the gates and shot at the Israelis from the walls. Until the PA, et al, recognize Israel and renounce annihilation of the Jews... give them nothing.
as a home for Holocaust survivors from Europe. Anything else is irrelevant.
This article is WAY out there. Peace talks are not a payment. And where is Eldar drawing similarities from, "At the end of the month when the bank says they have defaulted, closes their accounts, they blame the rest of the world," to Israel? Last I checked there isn't a contract with other nations in order for a people to be a sovereign state in which one could default on. Further more, I believe Eldar's example sounds a little bit more like the Palestinians - i.e. blaming the rest of the world (rather, Israel) for their own actions.
Let Bibi & Co. be on their own. They won't last long, the whole batch of them, including Lieberman the Bouncer.
Israil should absorb the Palestinians into the governmnent and become. a minority. Jews do best as a minority. The entire mideast would explode with enery and accomplishmnent.
There's a reason that so many liberal minded Jews in America, who lean way to the left on most social and political issues, are staunch supporters of Israel despite its flaws and right leaning governments. Because it is the only Jewish State in the world, the only state who will stand up for Jews anywhere in the world. It's not just about the Holocaust; it starts before the Dreyfus affair and goes all the way to the Refusniks of the USSR and continues to this day.
On the dot.
The Arabs will always be second class citizens in their own country, and America will always foot the bill.
Give me a break. It's not just their country...
Nothing this unjust and rancid lasts forever.
In there own country?? When has there ever been an independent country of Palistine?
Man. When did the Arabs buy the land from Israel? In case you don't know anything about history, here's a brief lesson. The land of Cannan was once occupied. The Israelite army killed every man, woman and child that lived upon the land. There are no heirs. The Palestinians are nothing more than squatters on Israel's land. There are 10000 Arabs for every Israelite in the middle east. Can't they get a home in one of the Arab states that think they deserve their own nation? Certainly someone loves them enough to take them in, right? Maybe Iran or Saudi Arabia or maybe Egypt. Why can't a Muslim brother help out a Muslim brother? Certainly they don't need a handout from the Israelites.
;-) Maybe I will be Egypt or your Kingdoms. It will be a Kayani coup, change the Government.
Are you guys nuts? Here in the US we KNOW obama is a muslim non-US citizen and therefore an illegal pretender to the US Presidency. He has no documented past and all of this is known in the US. Do nothing Israel. This guy is on his way out in the US, but please do everything to convince Americans that he is indeed a threat to anyone outside of the muslim world.
I'm in the US and only a small minority believe your BS, you don't have a clue on reality, and thats coming from a TRUE American. Back on topic, Israel has really gotten on the nerve of a lot of Americans, they don't want peace and are treating the US as a piece of trash, stealing taxpayer money.
Please stop making me look bad by spouting your Glenn Beckian hogwash at foreigners!
Here in the US we know no such thing. We do, however, have our fair share of bitter and paranoid individuals. More on topic, it does seem from over here that the Israeli government, perhaps from genuine political necessity, is more interested in appeasing settlers than in pursuing a viable secure peace. But what do I know, I just read the papers....
You really shouldn't contribute to that perception by saying things like Obama is a muslim non citizen. It has been proven over and over again that such nonsense is false and merely propaganda from the right wing nutters. If you really believe what you say, I'm guessing you also belong to the 'world is flat' society.
Why is it always the 1967 borders when it should be the 1973 borders.
It is the 1967 border because those are the borders that Israel itself agreed to in a UN resolution.
Any peace solution should be based on 48 borders, as envisaged in the original partition plan, and rejected by Israel in the interests of illegal occupation and land theft.
'67 borders are a good deal. Loss of UN support could result in a repudiation of the British handoff and reset to '47.
your wrong! your doing the right thing not listening to my government. they will not do you right. your doing what you need to do to survive in a moslem controlled area and i back you 100% take it to them! i will come for free if you need my help but just do what you have to do to survive.our government is traitors even to it's own people so don't trust them ever. john george columbus ohio
Boy, oh boy. Israel, you can take this guy from us I don't think he is contributing much to our country anyway. I hope English isn't your first language.
What the hell is a moslim? John George of Columbus Ohio you shouldn't speak for Americans when you can't really master the written word. Pathetic.
Just consider what happens if Palestinians and Arab states have all their weapons destroyed, vs. Israelis weapons destroyed. The first will result in peace, the second - in the death of all population of Israel. Here is your answer to who is responsible for the prolonging the current state of the things...
What can be done for Israelis to understand the consequences of an intransigent, deceitful, manipulative PM, who is alone responsible for changing the many carrots for the stick?
If the Israeli people wanted peace they'd stop electing politicians who promise to never make peace.
Remember Yitchak Rabin? Since then there wasnt ever a fighting chance
The further from the process the world can get the US from the peace process the greater likelihood of success. The UN already has all the existing international laws and UN resolutions needed to solve the matter and would have done so decades ago if not for US meddling, so I pray they will step aside and let the UN do its job.
funny, thats why iran and north korea do such a great job ignoring the UN... the UN has no spine except the US. The UN can sanction till it is blue in the face and still get nothing done.
the UN is a pussycat. Sri. And our republican nut cases use fear of a "one world government" to help keep their power. So they can keep making profits off the war material we buy and give to Israel. Its all about the lust for money. - the root of all evil
Makes sense - Israel is a UN creation and the state exists at the sufferance of the UN.
There's no "America" getting impatient with Israel, just an Obama Administration. Which just had its legs cut out from under it by the November election. Netanyahu has already seen the maximum pressure the Administration can bring to bear. Come January 3rd, further pressure will provoke domestic confrontations in the US Obama can't afford.
Most American Jews are left wing. The right wing in the USA hates Obama. But like Obama, Amercian Jews are frustrated and fed up with Bibi. It's time to make moves towards peace without the provocations that show that Bibi really has no intentions of being a man of peace.
It's the America of educated professionals who vote. We're growing very tired of Israel's deceit and lack of respect for the US. We do a lot for them and in return we get nothing.
You, talk as if Israel it to blame. The Arabs attack inocent pople and cry to the world what they get their backside handed to them. Do you think they could like in peace for 25 years, if they would get thier own country. Doubt full.
I know that nobody can give a reasonable answer to this question, but that's OK. I already know the answer. Israeli interests have made it in the best interests of American politicians to be at the beck and call of the Israeli lobby. When Israel is in crisis, the American congress can get a virtually unanimous vote supporting Israel. This is unheard of for any subject not involving Israel. Israel does nothing for America. Israel is both a political and a financial liability for America. We would really like to see some light shone on the dark places where American politics meet the Israeli lobby. Wikileaks, where are you when we need you !!
Despite conspiracy theorists like the above who claim that an all-powerful Jewish lobby controls Congress, American support for Israel, as minimal as it is, is based on American interests -- nothing else. The reason Wikileaks is not "there when we need you" is because there is no substance to your accusations, Ms. Durston. If you want to talk about automatic support, for positions right or wrong, look no further than the carte-blance support that the UN gives to any Arab position -- no matter how absurd.
He has worn us out. we don't believe that there is any justification for the US to continue to support him. He is apparently confident that he can tap into American sympathy to tolerate his predatory impulses. We are convinced that Israel can never thrive in a stabilized Middle East in which Israel has become the haven for opportunist like Netanyahu and his party of avaricious opportunists. Are there no Israeli's who recognize the Netanyahu subterfuge?
Your fixation on Netanyahu is irrational. Some Israeli governments tried to advance peace negotiations harder than others, but the end result has always been EXACTLY the same - Arabs always refused to negotiate for one reason or another. Left-wing, center or right-wing - Israelis replace their governments regularly. Arabs don't. Where do you think is the problem?
Never has Israel had a more reasonable Palestinian government to deal with. Acts of terror have been stifled. The Palestinians have done what Israel asked and started building state institutions. Netanyahu and his coalition have no excuse.
Benny Morris the noted historian has said it well: The secular Palestinian leadership looks to a similar historical denouement but is more flexible on the tactics and pacing. They express a readiness for a two-state solution but envision such an outcome as intermediate and temporary. They speak of two states, a Palestinian Arab West Bank-Gaza-East Jerusalem state and another state whose population is Jewish and Arab and which they believe will eventually become majority-Arab within a generation or two through Arab procreation (Palestinian Arab birth-rates are roughly twice those of Israeli Jews) and the “return” of Palestinians with refugee status. This is why Fatah’s leaders, led by Palestine National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, flatly reject the Clintonian formula of “two states for two peoples” and refuse to recognize the “other” state, Israel, as a “Jewish state.” They hope that this “other” state will also, in time, be “Arabized,” thus setting the stage for the eventual merger of the two temporary states into one Palestinian Arab-majority sta
I for one say we're done. Netanyahu is a power hungry elitist. We (America and Americans) have done everything we can to help the Jewish people and the Palestinian people come to an agreement on how to peacefully live together. Both sides seem to want to prolong the agony and posture themselves for a better deal. I'm a white guy from the heartland of America. I say let the Israeli people fight their own fight. I'm done...
Thank you for your good will and patience you have had this far. Now it's either regime change in Israel, or isolation and -God forbid- war.
Obama and Hillary don't mind. Keep taking what they give, its what they expect.
The way Obama handles "peace process" we will be lucky if situation is still as bad as it is today by the time American people throw Obama out of the office. Because there is a real chance Obama's "peace efforts" will lead to an all out war. That would make all the "peace activists" really happy...
Then Israel could steal all of the Palestinians' land with no obstacles whatsover.
I speak for many Americans, we don't buy what Israel is selling!
SALEM FAYYAD,MAHMOUD ABBAS,AND THE REST OF THE PA AND FATAH ARE CLEAR…AND THEY EVEN SAY IT CLEARLY IN ENGLISH: the two state solution is merely a step in taking control of the entire state of Israel. Read their statements to their own people wherein they pledge that any negotiation is a subterfuge on the road to their unconditional victory.