Abbas has the will, and the way

The Temple Mount is the most sought after piece of real estate on the planet. To give it to the youngest nation on the planet just doesn't seem to make sense. However, the Jews, as represented by the Jewish State (the State of Israel) are also short-sighted if they think that they should monopolize ownership. If the Jews replace their current persecution complex with a more positive attitude, they would realize that in the millenium following the destruction of the Second Temple the Western and Middle-eastern worlds generally accepted the Jewish Torah's ideals and its concept of God. The western and middle-eastern worlds developed replacement theologies and created nations and cultures based largely upon originally Jewish ideas. The universal component of the Jewish mission has, in a major sense, been achieved. The Jews have recently corrected their severe national, physical and material deficiencies. So they now have the ability to negotiate with the Christian and Moslem World (Europe, the Middle East and the Americas) on the exact terms of shared sovereignty in Jerusalem so that all of the religions, cultures, nations and societies that derived from Jewish ideas and values may share the Mount and pray to our common God. As Isaiah states and as we repeat many times this High Holy Day season, "And I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer...because my house will be called a House of Prayer for ALL OF THE NATIONS". Such a generous approach by Israel, replacing its steadfastness that contributes to world conflict, will earn Israel great respect in place of its current reputation for selfishness, stubborness and arrogance. Such an approach would result in a huge Kiddush Hashem and be a big step toward world peace. Israel would become a true "Light unto the Nations" and thus fulfill the main religious/national duty for which the Jewish people were chosen in the first place. And Jerusalem would then become the Ir Shalem -- the City of Peace - that it was meant to be.

that you are an idiot. What incentive could there possibly be to give the palestinians the temple mount? Becaus ethey'll keep acting like beabies if Israel doesn't? How about you grow some balls and negotiate from a position of strength?

Abbas had to be brought to these talks kicking and screaming. Bibi said he wants to have bi weekly meetings Abbas rejected that idea flat out. Abbas has no credibility and he represents only a small number of palestinians anyway and his term as president was supposed to end nearly 2 years ago so he is not even in position to do any deals from a legal point of view. Abbas like Arafat has never taken peace talking seriously because he takes the attitude this is a list of demands you either agree to every single one of them or there is nothing to talk about. The palestinians have never been interested in negotiating just demanding and as long as they demand rather than negotiate we will never reach a deal. The problem with Hamas rule in Gaza for Bibis coalition partners is because they are firing rockets I don't know where you live Avi Issachcharoff but the residents on the residents of Sderot & Ashkelon consider it to be a serious problem. Of course to somebody who doesn't have to live with the threat of rocket attacks its not an issue is it Mr Issacharoff? You also cannot brush off the brutal murder of 4 individuals in one attack, 2 injured in another and probably more to come. The idea that giving up Temple Mount and its all over ia laughable. There are settlements & the settler movement has a very loud voice and not just in the Knesset. There is also the thing that can kill a deal and thats right of return. Thats a red line and even Israel left accept that and one of the reasons Arafat walked when Barak had already offered him Temple Mount was the right of return issue. Any palestinian leader who agrees to give up the idea of right of return will be considered a traitor and the demand will not drop. Even Arafat didn't have the muscle to drop that and survive. So come on if its just Temple Mount why didn't we get a deal in 2000 when it was offered. This is a totally over simplified article designed to turn Bibi into the bad guy and Abbas into the victim no matter what if and probably when talks break down.

He needs controls of the economy. Letting Israel control imports/exports is basically allowing them to stunt the Palestinian economy. Israel closed Gaza's boarders for years prior to tehir so-called withdrawal and Hamas takeover. They used security threats to stunt Palestinian exports.

The West Bank was calm during the Gaza assault because Abbas undemocratically suppressed protests. That is not a sign of law and order as much as it is a sign of dictatorship.

1. When people speak of calm in the West Bank. Do they even take account of all settle attacks on Palestinians or is such violence acceptable and should be ignored? 2. Abbas won the 2005 presidental election. He also had no serious opponent. Hamas didn't field a candidate.

Abbas will shut up all critics of Israel by signing the deal on behalf of all Palestinians. No more refugee complains, no more accusations of occupation, no more critics of Jewish-democratic state. All these will be waived by Abbas. Not a bad deal after all. And to think the left supported BHO and its Nobel prize...

After he succeeded Arafat, Abbas couldn't even get the time of day from an Israeli official. He was ignored by all. It was only after Hamas was elected that Israel found a use for Abbas, giving him the attention he craved. Israel armed and trained Abbas Fatah faction in an attempt to stage a coup on the Hamas government. After this failed, Israel arrested most of the Hamas ministers, rendering the government ineffective which placed temporary power in Abbas hands pending his call for a new election. He never called for an election and eventually his term of office expired. Still, Abbas became Israel (and therefore Americas) favorite Palestinian. In Washington DC now, we have the Israeli leader along with a flunky of Israel and a cheerleader for Israel all conniving to make a "peace plan". Since there is no representative of the Palestinian people it is hard to see how they will accept the results, if any.

I give this article 5 stars! At last someone gives credit where credit is due!

Give away the Temple Mount? You're sick. The Temple Mount, like all of Jerusalem, belongs to the Jews. You're a shame. Read your Torah. Read your Torah. Read your Torah.

As direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority began this week in Washington, the PA gave an award to a woman for raising four sons who all murdered Israelis in terrorist attacks. PA Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Karake gave the “Shield of Resoluteness and Giving” to the mother of the Abu Hamid brothers, four of whom have been sentenced to life in prison for terrorism, in a ceremony reported by the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and translated by Palestinian Media Watch. A fifth was killed fighting Israel in 1994. The woman was referred to by PA media only as Umm Yusef, “mother of Yusef,” and not by her given name. She was also referred to as “Khansa of Palestine,” a reference to the legend of a woman from the days of the beginning of Islam, who rejoiced when her four sons were all killed in battle. Umm Yusef Abu Hamid's sons all took part in terrorist attacks in which innocent Israeli civilians were murdered. Karake praised the Abu Hamid family as “a model of willpower and of the struggle for the independence of Palestine.” He was accompanied by other PA representatives and by representatives of PA "human rights" groups. Karake also visited the family of Ayyat Al-Akhras, a suicide bomber who murdered two Israelis in a Jerusalem supermarket in 2002. Al-Hayat Al-Jadida referred to Al-Akhras as having “died a Martyrs' death.”

It is a combined effort and they are playing games with your brains. These are just the precursors for something bigger. Just be alert and fully prepared for anything from the north, south and east. With 2 leaders outside the territory, fully occupied with Obama and his doomed peace talks, well that is an opportunity.

whether there is a piece of paper saying we have peace, we will not have peace for decades. a treaty, however generous to the palestinian side, will not eradicate rampant islamic terror.

Well said

When even the "moderate" fatah professes they never have & never will accept the Jewish state of Israel, with the PLO & hamas charter swearing to detroy Israel, what chance do you think that abbas would ever acknowledge the Jewish right to their homeland, Israel? If he did, how long before he would be assassinated by his own, like Sadat? It's that fear that will forever prevent him from signing a peace with Israel. He expected obama would hand him a state without having to make peace with Israel, and that is exactly what Obama would do if reelected. Abbas has only to wait until then.

It gets extremely old reading all the BS and the propaganda that endlessly denigrates him and attempts to minimize his popularity, when in fact he and Fateh ARE favored over Hamas(almost 2/1)...even in Gaza!

His primary aim ha,s and is to improve the lives and future of Palestinian people, unlike Arafat who cared only about himself, and Hamas who will sacrifice any and all Palestinian common on the altar of their maximalist goals He has showed incredible strength and fortitude in standing up to all the simple minded and unfair criticism, mainly from the mushed brained Western leftist, and Hamas groupies, who have called him a stooge, a tool of the occupation. (They,like Hamas, will fight till the last Palestinian) He has had to walk a tightrope between the impossible to deal with Israelis, and the unfair Americans, and the duplicitous Arab leaders. He is improving the lives of the people of the West Bank and at the same time he has stood fast against giving in to an unfair final peace deal. It would have been much easier for him to play the demagogue, but I think history will treat him well.