"Netanyahu says will give up some land for peace" -- go Obama!!!

[defendandprotect]

Netanyhu blinked!! Congratulations to Obama -- and hope he keeps it going!!

Getting Israel back on the road to peace would be hugely beneficial for everyone!!



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_mideast_usa_netanyahu

[former9thward]

1. This has been the Israeli position since at least the 90s.

[aquart]

2. You are all very funny.

Obama was, as usual, giving away the store at the start of negotiations. The Israelis just gave the same inch they always give.

The only interesting thing here is what the Palestinians will do, as they see themselves being left behind and forgotten in the Arab Spring. The accord between Hamas and Fatah is huge IMHO. Just guessing that it was negotiated with Egypt or to gain Egypt's consent to keeping the gate open.

All kinds of alliances are being made as power shifts in the Arab world.

The dictatorships needed the Palestinians. Nascent democracies might not.

[defendandprotect]

5. Well, think they know they can't continue to support this -- it has to change!!

In fact one of their long time Ambassadors resigned two months or so ago

saying that he could not longer support Israeli policy toward Palestine --

and that Israeli policy was making a "pariah" of Israel -- isolating it

among nations!!

And that this isolation would only increase in future -- and I think that's true!

It's happening.

Well -- you're probably right -- but can only feel grateful that Obama at least

got the words out!! Back to 1967!!

Hoping for more -- but this rightwing Fundi Israeli approach on Palestine has to

be stopped -- and US is financing it and arming it!!

[lilyin]

3. If it had been any other

Israeli president from the past, there would have been no drama. Bibi Yahoo should be ashamed of himself for the way he talked to and about President Obama - the leader of the free world whose country gives Israel LOTS of money. Bibi's time has passed. All decent Israelis want PEACE the way it was proposed a LONG time ago. Bibi acted like this was President Obama's choice. I hope Bibi is defeated in his election and THEN there will be peace.

[aquart]

4. I keep ending up with double posts.

[booley]

6. haven't they said this before?

And the land they are willing to give up end up being pretty much useless?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. With a load of unacceptable strings attached. Already rejected by the Palestinians.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110524/ap_on_re_us/us_us_israel

But he tacked on a list of oft-stated conditions that have been unacceptable to the Palestinians in the past, making his peace blueprint unlikely to entice them back to the negotiating table.

Speaking before a warmly receptive joint meeting of Congress that showered him with more than two dozen sustained standing ovations, Netanyahu said Israel wants and needs peace but repeated his flat rejection of a return to what he called the "indefensible" borders that Israel had before the 1967 Mideast war.

He also restated Israel's refusal to repatriate millions of Palestinian refugees and their families to homes in Israel that they lost in fighting over the Jewish state's 1948 creation.

And Netanyahu maintained anew that contested Jerusalem could not be shared with the Palestinians, who want the eastern sector of the holy city as capital of their hoped-for state. And he insisted that Israel maintain a long-term military presence on what would be the eastern border of a Palestinian state.

[gratuitous]

12. But, this mailing says I win a million dollars!

Where's the check?! Ed McMahon's picture is right there on the envelope.

Yeah, this "concession" is the equivalent of "I'll give you a million dollars, but first you have to hand over two million. What's the matter? Don't you want a million dollars? Just meet my one little precondition, and you could have a million dollars! You're so unreasonable."

We've squandered decades on useless fighting, what's another 20, 30 or 100 years?

[blindpig]

8. nonsense

Netanyahu just told the Congress that there will only be peace on Israeli terms, and that effectively scotches any chance for a peaceful settlement.

Yes, Israel will give up some land, that of it's choosing. Most if not all of the post '67 settlement will be Israeli, as will the best agricultural land and access to precious water. What will be left to Palestine will be a hodgepodge of territories not unlike the 'bantustans' of apartheid South Africa. They would have the Palestinians remain an economic basket case.

The only way for this to be done in any way just is to start with the 67 borders and then see that the new Palestine retains the resources necessary for a functioning society with contiguous territory and access to the sea.

[Obamanaut]

9. If everything becomes peaceful, maybe the US can stop sending

money and military equipment (foreign aid), and spend that amount on US aid.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[hugo_from_TN]

11. That is long standing Israeli policy

Sheesh

[RainDog]

13. good news - and glad to hear it n/t

[defendandprotect]

14. Obama made a specific recommendation -- ball's back in his court now?

[Exilednight]

15. Obama blinked first when he stated that America's support of Israel is

ironclad. If he really wanted to stand up and push peace, he would of put contingencies on Israel's financial support.

[fascisthunter]

16. well, I Hope So

that would be awesome!!!