Doubtful declarations
The Washington summit met the goals set for it. It ended with an announcement of the renewal of negotiations to reach an Israeli-Palestinian settlement that will resolve all the core issues and lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Haaretz EditorialThe Washington summit met the goals set for it. It ended with an announcement of the renewal of negotiations to reach an Israeli-Palestinian settlement that will resolve all the core issues and lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. In his speeches in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed readiness for an historical compromise. "Another people shares this land with us," Netanyahu said, and called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "my partner in peace." He promised that Israel will not enter direct talks to argue, but to end the conflict.
Netanyahu, who in the past sharply opposed the idea of a Palestinian state and saw it as a threat to Israel's existence and security, has changed his approach since he returned to power about a year and a half ago. Now he talks about sovereignty in return for security, a state for the Palestinians in return for strict security arrangements. Netanyahu convinced the leaders of the United States, Egypt and Jordan to sponsor the direct talks, and demonstrated impressive political ability in preserving his coalition intact at a time when he is entering discussions about a withdrawal from the West Bank, the future of the settlements and the status of Jerusalem.
But, as generous as he was with declarations, Netanyahu was short on details, and the doubts regarding the seriousness of his intentions and ability to promote a settlement have yet to dissipate. His opening positions, and his hints that he will propose leaving the settlers in the Palestinian state instead of removing them, raise the suspicion that Netanyahu is looking for ways to extricate Israel from its international isolation, and that is why he pushed for direct talks, though he has yet to grasp the necessary price of compromise with the Palestinians: withdrawal from the West Bank, dividing Jerusalem and evacuating the settlements.
The first test of his intentions and ability will come at the end of the freeze on building in the settlements, in another three weeks. If Netanyahu will give in to the pressure of the settlers and their supporters and renew construction at full steam, it will become clear that he is not capable of promoting the historic compromise that he promised. If the prime minister wants people to believe his declarations in Washington, he must translate them into decisions that he made in Ariel and Emmanuel, and avoid expanding settlements during the talks. That is the necessary conclusion to be drawn from the Washington summit.
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I agree with this editorial. On the one hand, the land is halachically ours. On the other hand, it is utterly unrealistic to believe that we can expand our holdings there until Mosheach comes. Discretion is the better part of valor, and patience is a virtue. Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister – you have done the right thing!
in London . He won't be suffering ,British Intelligence is taking care of him and you'd be earning brownies for being flexible ,just as you want Netanyahu to be.
Haaretz think that settlers should be uprooted. But this is not necessarily the case. There is no requirement for territorial continuity. Therefore Arabs in the West Bank (another variation includes Arabs in pre-1967 borders) will vote to an Arab parliament (e.g. in Amman or independent of Jordan) and the 'settlers' will vote to the Israeli parliament. Thus there would be no demographic and 'democratic' problem. Indeed all over the world people in very close geographic proximity vote to parliaments of completely different countries (in various degrees). For example Irish north of the border vote to the London's parliament, which is even in another island, and those south of the border vote to Dublin's parliament. Similarly Gibraltar is part of the UK, so is British Honduras, even the far away Falklands islands is part of the UK. Spain has territory in North Africa. Alaska and Hawai are not territorially continuous with the US and yet they are part of the US. So was mount Scopus part of Israel before 1967 but not territorially continuous with it. These and many other examples show that there is no need to give Arabs in the West Bank Israeli citizenship. They could vote to an Arab parliament which is part of an existing Arab nation, or their own separate one.
There is Northern Ireland, and there is Southern Island. They are two seperate distinct halves! There are no colonies of one side in the other. That would not work terribly well, and its unlikely to work in Israel either!
There is Northern Ireland, and there is Southern Island. They are two seperate and distinct halves! There are no colonies of one side in the other. That would not work terribly well, and its unlikely to work in Israel either!
It's an idea, all right. Not bad. It depends on security and the nature of the two entities. I would like to see more freedom of movement for both Israelis and PA citizens. Today, PA people cannot go into Israel, and Israelis cannot go into Area A. And btw, British Honduras is today the independent country of Belize.
WHENEVER WINTER COMES, WE SEE ORANGES IN MARKETS FROM WASHINGTON. THEY SAY : COME ON COME ON, REAL WASHINGTON ORANGES, HERE. I never know if they are joking or not. and I havent meet any orange tree in washington when I was there. ANYWAY ! SKIE IS FULL WITH CLOUDS HERE. JUST LIKE WINTER. I LOVE WINTER. I hope sellers do sell their oranges without telling they are from washington. BECAUSE IF THEY SAY THEY ARE WASHINGTON ORANGES : I WONT BUY....................................................... why the settlers are that much poor to stay in palestine ? ..............MAYBE WASHINGTON GIVES THEM GREEN CARD TO AMERICA AND SAVE THEM FROM LIVING IN PALESTINE CITIES.
As far as trust-building measures, why not imagine that some of the settlers will choose to stay deep within the new Palestinian state as Palestinian settlers? Already over a million Palestinians have that same status within Israel. LET'S MAKE A DEAL: we promise to protect all the civil rights of the Palestinians among us, they promise the same within Palestine.
The settlers will never live under Palestinian sovereignty, it is against their ideology. They are not like Druze that can live as a minority in any country. The settlers are pushing this as a red herring, because they know it will never happen, but may take attention away from a two state solution.
Oh, but haven't you heard. The idea of settlers being citizens of a new Palestinian state is moot. The underlying assumption of all of this is that any new Palestinian state will be Judenrein. 1 1/2 million Arabs can live in Israel, but not one Jew is supposed to live in Palestine. The idea that a Jew shouldn't live somewhere because it's offensive to someone else is simply racist.
The issue is not religious but territorial. Israel started sacralizing this conflict in 67 and settling the territories. Settlers are the issue not because their religion but because they're settlers ! it is easy to hide behind the old antisemitism excuse and avoid reality. Racism amongst settlers (and many israelis) is not a myth. And please stop using "judenrein" as if palestinians were nazis....that's shameful.
If Begin and Sharon hadn't paved the way for these settlements way back in the 80's we wouldn't be in this mess. There is no way that those settlements are worth any more Israeli lives. Likud and Netanyahu have reparations to make up for that costly (in human lives) blunder. God bless all the peace negotiators. If the English and French are now allies after their historic 100 years war, the same will be true of the Israelis and Palestinians in the future. Those who oppose this peace are on the wrong side of G-d, in my view. So let the fundamentalists on both sides fight it out somewhere else.
Netanyahu would not be "giving in" to the settlers any more than Meretz would be "giving in" to Hammas - Netanyahu was elected by those that support the settlers, and Meretz was elected by those that support Hammas. They would simply be doing what their voters wanted.
he was not elected to give away anything nor provide arabs with another hostile state ! its seems that politicians are so egotistic that they can ignore their voters and their coalition partners ? politicians have one duty that is to resign if they cannot honour their electoral commitments !
The issue is not an internal Israeli issue dependent upon the current Israeli Government. Regardless of the regime in power, Israel must adhere eventually to International Law. The PM at that time will be lead the fight (not to adhere to International Law at a guess)
The issue is not an internal Israeli issue dependent upon the current Israeli Government. Regardless of the regime in power, Israel must adhere eventually to International Law. The PM at that time will be lead the fight (not to adhere to International Law at a guess)
there are no laws which will leave a country to commit suicide
he was not elected to give away anything nor provide arabs with another hostile state ! its seems that politicians are so egotistic that they can ignore their voters and their coalition partners ? politicians have one duty that is to resign if they cannot honour their electoral commitments !
Your advices on the peace are a non sense. The left tried several times to make peace but failed. Only the right can make peace, with a strong Israel. You should remenber Oslo, Taba, camp David: leftists disasters for Israel.
Your advices on the peace are a non sense. The left tried several times to make peace but failed. Only the right can make peace, with a strong Israel. You should remenber Oslo, Taba, camp David: leftists disasters for Israel.
Your advices on the peace are a non sense. The left tried several times to make peace but failed. Only the right can make peace, with a strong Israel. You should remenber Oslo, Taba, camp David: leftists disasters for Israel.
Your advices on the peace are a non sense. The left tried several times to make peace but failed. Only the right can make peace, with a strong Israel. You should remenber Oslo, Taba, camp David: leftists disasters for Israel.
Specifics from both sides are needed, not just platitudes. Netanyahu needs to tell Israelis what they are not going to get or keep. Abbas needs to do the same to the Palestinian people. And BOTH need to agree where they have room to negotiate and where there is room for compromise. Then both leaders, if they are leaders have to tell their own people where they intend to make compromise. Abbas has done some of this. The Palestinian people know they are not going to get land seized in 48. Except for Hamas and its religious right wing, Palestinians have accepted this. But Netanyahu has told Israelis nothing about what they cannot keep. He even hints (strongly) that Palestine will have no sovereignty. If this is his final position, he should state it and go to elections.
... is contained in the YB "swap" plan": land for land, and peace for peace. It will be that way.
... is contained in the YB "swap" plan": land for land, and peace for peace. It will be that way.
Last time I checked the US were in the middle of a huge economic crisis, highest unemployment growth in many decades,oil spill,etc.Obama wants to go down in history as the person who made peace in the middle east?Haha.He will go down in history as the first antisemitic US president,who failed everything the touched. Clinton forced Israel into surrendering to the arab demands(a.k.a. "peace process ")to distract attention from his personal scandals.Remember?Obama wants to push us to a national suicide in order to appease arabs,or more likely becase he just can't stand the fact that the Jewish state is still on the map.Hey, obama, your openly antisemitic minister jeremiah wright would be proud of you. But you will not succeed for the same reason pharaoh,haman, crusaders,inquisition,black hundreds, cossacks and nazis did not succeed.They are all gone, and Jews are STILL here.
You have read the UN Charter?
how'd the militia meeting go? develop a good strategy for taking america back from all those darkies and communists?
he writes total hogeash
You are wasting your time on puny little things... "illegal" settlemetns... Arabs build their houses in Israel illegally as well - with no documents or authorization. yet very few of them are disturbed by the police and authorities... they are let to live. once a palestinian country is formed those "illegal" settlements will simply be jewish settlements inside the palestinian country... what's the problem about that? In Israel there are many Arabs settlements... we live side by side in peace in one country... why shouldn't there be Jewish settlements inside an arab future country??? Hypocrites
Because it's not arabia and the arabs have no claim to the land as a whole. It is the land of Israel. The so-called West Bank is actually Samaria and Judea, the core of ancient Israel. Not one square centimeter if for the so-called palestinians.
Because it's not arabia and the arabs have no claim to the land as a whole. It is the land of Israel. The so-called West Bank is actually Samaria and Judea, the core of ancient Israel. Not one square centimeter if for the so-called palestinians.
....you are demolishing the 'illegally' built Arab homes arent you, but funnily enough, not the Jewish-owned ones. I am suprised this fact has passed you by. It has been extensively reported in the media. If, as you maintain, Jews should be allowed to live wherever they like, I presume you'd support the same for the Palestinians.
jews should be able to live wherever they like but jews can't build a jewish STATE wherever they like. that's what the settlers are doing. ridiculous play of the anti-semite card. and of course israel will not permit the palestinian refugees to return to israel because doing so would "overwhelm the jewish nature" of israel. So, apparently arabs can't live wherever they like
"jews should be able to live wherever they like." I suppose that's why all the synagogues were torched to the ground when the settlers were uprooted from gaza. Because any future palestinian state would be a haven of multiculturalism. Talk about "tiresome false argument"!
the high-powered elitists as the conference table is the most important thing. Not one square centimeter of Israeli land for any reason or on account of any threat. Israel is for the Jews!
Israel for the Jews! And Palestine for the Palestinians! And the Green Line in between! The division of the British Mandate was made a long time ago, and still stands. Israel doesn't give up one square centimeter of Israeli land. No one asks it, no one demands it, no one even challenges it!
You have picked an appropriate name for yourself.
You have picked an appropriate name for yourself.
Netnayahu ran for elections on a policy of "no Palestinian state" (only autonomy), and he was not ready to expose himself as a fraud right after the elections and announce that he actually accepts a Palestinian state. That took him 4 months to do (in a speech in June 2009). As of now, Netanyahu refrained from taking a vote in the government about this change in policy, nor in Likud. Will Netanyahu dare to go all the way for peace and then have to "face the music" of the hardliners? I hope so, but one wouldn't know until the very end. Barak is braver, and also needs peace more because otherwise his party will pull out of the coalition and he will lose his job. But even Barak got cold feet in Shepherdstown when he was to complete the negotiations of peace with Syria. Let us hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
The Political Coward ?? Netanyahu was upbeat in DC while all Abbas could do is rehash his overcooked complaints. WHAT does Abbas bring to the table?? Negativity is about all he offers. Address Abbas, please.
You are wasting your time on puny little things... "illegal" settlemetns... Arabs build their houses in Israel illegally as well - with no documents or authorization. yet very few of them are disturbed by the police and authorities... they are let to live. once a palestinian country is formed those "illegal" settlements will simply be jewish settlements inside the palestinian country... what's the problem about that? In Israel there are many Arabs settlements... we live side by side in peace in one country... why shouldn't there be Jewish settlements inside an arab future country??? Hypocrites