Burden of proof

It would be interesting to compare what Bibi is saying to his coalition and what he is saying to the White House. Of course both sides know he lies without blinking - the funny thing is they both might actually believe he's lying to the other guy! Looks like poor old Abbas is trapped. Direct talks will make him look ineffectual and will be used by the coalition to quickly catch up on settlement construction. This government will do no deal whatsoever to push forward Palestinian statehood. The only question is whether the maximum Bibi would offer will ever come any where near the minimum the Palestinians can accept. And then whether Kadima would prop up the collapsed coaltion to vote through an agreement. Let's face it that's a fantasy. One can only admire the way Bibi has flipped the White House and got this close to direct talks.

If the Palestinians had a leader then there would be no harm in attending peace talks. It is all a sham of course, just like always. In fact, considering the ultra right wing Israeli government and the ultra weak American president, it would be more of a sham than ever before. The problem is that the Palestinians don't have a leader. Israel and America prefer deputizing Abbas as the Palestinian leader. They have used him before and he is respectful and knows his place. Some reports indicate that Abbas has proposed a deal that is the most favorable deal yet for Israel. Israel and America sure know their Palestinians! Anyway, since Abbas represents only his faction, and since Hamas would not be bound by any agreement he makes, and since Abbas has been known to conspire with Israel against the Palestinian government in the past, nobody in the world or in the future would consider this a valid peace agreement. So why bother?

From a young Islamic viewpoint, the perspective is different: Iran is going to be a super-power leading the Islamic world from Pakistan to Morocco. Islam is entering U.S. campuses. The battle over Europe hasn't started yet. Islam's struggle is only in its beginning phase. Israel has a symbolic value. No way the Islamic world is going to let Abbas give away historical Jerusalem, or other holy places to anybody. This is all a sham directed by Arab leaders to induce BHO to contain Iran. Abbas role is to give enough to satisfy BHO, and later to be the one accused of treason against Islam, or more precisely one and a half Billion Islamic fundamentalists. Wonder why he is dragging his feets?

if he lifts all pre-conditions prior to direct talks. I often wonder if Abbas,Eraket,& Fayyad are on the same page

I think what Nataniaho wants to finish Abbas once and for all, because when thw later starts direct negotiatons without any garantees, and the setllements activities start as expected, Abbas will be finished, and with no Palesinian leadership, Israel can say whome sould I negociate with.

Is putting Israel in the position of having - again - to reject out of hand it's proposal. By urging Abbas to direct talks the situation will come down to Netanyahu vs. talking peace.

THE CAUSE OF THE CONFLICT IS NOT COMPLICATED. IT'S SO SIMPLE. BUT MOST OF THE WORLD PRETENDS IT ISN'T. VERY SIMPLE: AS BIBI SAYS: THE CAUSE OF THE CONFLICT IS ARAB/PALESTINIAN REFUSAL TO ACCEPT THE EXISTENCE OF ISRAEL AS A JEWISH STATE. PERIOD. ATTACK AFTER ATTACK AFTER ATTACK ON ISRAEL DECADES BEFORE ANY ISRAELI SOLDIER SET FOOT IN THE TERRITORIES. CAN YOU IMAGINE OBAMA AGREEING TO MEXICO AND CANADA BECOMING AL QAEDA-RUN COUNTRIES? AND WE'RE SO BIG AND POWERFUL. NEVERTHELESS, I HARDLY THINK SO.

Israel wont give up the land, nor will they give the natives the vote, but they will end up doing both in the long run. Jews are the dominant minority now in Palestine, but will not be forever. CIA reports Israel will fall within 20 years.

And Obama needs THAT in order to justify a more decisive and proactive approach. What else would explain the sudden change of stance by the Arab League? Hopefully this is leading to "put up - or have it put upon you by the international community".

One may start from the safe assumption that this Netanyahu government is not capable of progressing in any significant way towards a peace agreement. The inevitable result is that the Palestinians must do whatever they can to topple the Netanyahu government so that it is replaced by a more peace-oriented one. Since Abbas and the Arab League apparently believe in Obama's sincerity, they also believe that once Obama realizes that what they see in Netanyahu (i.e., a void) is correct, Obama will join them in their goal to topple the Netanyahu government. This is reasonable, and it has a historical precedent. Jim Baker got tired of the Shamir government lying ways and absolute determination to hold on to the West Bank, so it criticized it in public and punished Israel financially, which resulted in the Israeli public replacing Shamir with Rabin in the following elections. It is a reasonable approach which may work even faster this time. It is likely that with no real progress towards peace, the Labor party will quit the government, making it even more hardline and more resistant to any concession. For this strategy to work, Abbas should attempt to make sure Labor has no excuse to remain in the government. Let him extract from Netanyahu the best possible "good will gestures", go to direct talks, then suspend them when Israel declines to extend the freeze over settlement construction.The snowball will start rolling after the US Congressional elections this November, and will gain speed when Labor gives up on Netanyahu.