A few years ago a Canadian minister was threatened by Palestinians for merely suggesting that Canada would be willing to take in Palestinian refugees in the context of a peace agreement. Imagine then what a Palestinian leader faces for compromising on the Palestinian wish to control all of Israel and the West Bank. Palestinian leaders won't do it for fear of their lives but they play the 2 state game to secure Western financial and political support.

I am surprised to find somebody talking the truth! Maybe we should send him to meet Obama instead of our OLD Peres who will never recognize the Oslo failure. Good to know we still have people with a realistic view of what is good for Israel!

only realistic and fair out of the conflict. Among other elements of this very well designed resolution aiming to govern the peace-making between Israel and its Muslim-Arab neighbors, Gaza will be taken over by Egypt and most of the West Bank by Jordan. Any other way out is simply not going to be workable.

Abbas is quite right not to recognise Israel as "a Jewish state" - he's recognised it as an Israeli state. Netayahu's demand to recognise it as a Jewish state is simply a desperate attempt to throw up more hurdles for the Palestinians to baulk at, so that he can avoid having to give up Israel's settlements and simultaneously place the blame for not making peace on the Palestinians. If Abbas gave in, he'd just throw up another stumbling block. That Abbas refuses to do it does not mean that he intends to ethnically cleanse Israel, it just means that he is not playing Netanyahu's games.

he has not been made to. This man had the backing of the entire world while at the same time the KURDS have been patiently waiting for well deserved statehood for decades. Any and all presure was placed on us, always. Abbas almost got his mythical Palestine handed over on a silver platter. (to which he santioned posters across wb and gaza showing all of Israel, Palestine.) ...and while Bush axed the embassy act (which he promised to pass) 2 times a year for 8 years he didn't once stop short of extending the lease on the PLO office in NY. Bush whitewashed Abbas to the hilt continuously calling him a MAN OF PEACE. Now Obama has picked up where he (Bush) let off. At least I can not be angry at Obama for using the passage of the embassy act as a campaign promise as Bush did prior to his first term of office. If anyone is to think for one moment the train has not left the station at mach speed they are deluded at best.

He wants to be in the spotlight not make a genuine peace. All he can do is make ultimatums and that is not the ingredient for peace.

After all, it was Abbas (and the rest of Palestinians) who insist that NO Jews will live within their borders, even as Palestinian citizens who pay taxes, adhere to their laws, etc. That's called population transfer, it's called Apartheid, it's called racism. But Israel only seems to be the one called on this when wanting to be recognized as a Jewish State - a character that Arabs DO NOT agree to based on racist supremacy reasons. Yet - there are several countries in the ME called "The Islamic Republic of xxx", where Sharia law is forced on EVERYONE, and non-Muslims are not treated quite as well (if allowed to be there at all)....and no one seems to have a problem with this. Having Israel as a Jewish State is only MORE important now considering the points I mentioned.

the only reason you support Resolution 242 is because it is highly benefical to your side of the conflict. If you were a Palestinian, would you accept such a deal? To be lumped in with another country and deny any cultural or historical claim to the land? I highly doubt it! Please step down from your high horse.

The refugee issue can never be solved by any palestinian leadership at this time because nobody not even Arafat had the authority to speak for everybody on the refugee issue. Assuming Abbas agreed on some sort of comprmise Hamas and some others would then say we will never honour any agreement that doesn't involve full right of return They get the state & we dont get the security. It may even lead to a palestinian civil war and it will certainly lead to assasination of any leader that agrees to compromise. As long as their culture is we are all refugees with a right of return its never going to change and there is outside influence from the likes of Syria, Iran & Israeli arabs and UNRWA which says if your palestian refugee status is inherited along with right of return. As for Syria Assad hasn't become a new man who wants peace. Arafat looked like a man of peace compared to Assad. He is proud of the fact he supports terror and at the same time he talks about making peace. He said himself earlier this month that there is a difference between a peace treaty which is signing a piece of paper and real lasting peace and a peace treaty is worthless and right now all he was willing to offer was a treaty. Even the worthless treaty is going to cost us at least the entire Golan. King Hussain did legitimately want to make peace after 1967. Assad calls for peace and terror in the same sentence so lets not try compare the two men.

The guy doesn't have a clue.

a 2-state solution and have actually built their election platforms on this model. Lieberman only rejects the terms and conditions imposed at Annapolis by Bush. Lieberman and Netanyahu seek to end this conflict by divorcing themselves from failures of Bush and Olmert, and the one way they plan on doing this is by exchanging certain Jewish settlements in the West Bank for Arab settlements in the Wadi Ara region on the Israeli side of the '67 borders. Recognizing Israel as a Jewish state is a vital step in the direction of advancing a two-state solution that is actually implementable. It is absolutely ludicrous for Abbas to demand Israel recognize a Palestinian Arab Republic (along the lines of Syria or Egypt) while simultaneously refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Then again, this is Arab hypocrisy in action. I, and almost every Israeli I know, praise Netanyahu and Lieberman for sniffing it out and exposing it for what it is.

Sadat did not join a NAZI group in Egypt as the silly writer writes. There were no NAZI sympathy in Egypt. He was againt the British Occupation and was prisoned for killing an egyptian minister. He was not against the jews as the jews was a very viberant comunity in Egypt at that time.

...there are many quotes from Abbas that shows he really does wish for the destruction of Israel and death to Jews. This guy is the one who planned the Munich attacks. Why is it so unreasonable to recognize the land as Jewish? Every single truthful historian agrees with that sentiment. The Solomon Temple is built under their Mosque. Denying fact is holding these Palestinians back.

this article suffers from a fatal flaw: it assumes that mahmoud abbas, and yasser arafat before him, actually ever intended to make peace, rather than the more obvious conclusion, that they have only ever pursued negotiations with israel in order to extract the maximum possible concessions, before resuming the war. talking "peace" with israel and the americans was very profitable for arafat, as the oslo accords legitimized his grip over the arab palestinian body politic, and allowed him to set up a terrorist base of operations in the west bank and gaza. amazingly enough, the west chose to ignore the reports of his non-stop incitement leading up to, and including, the intifada. mahmoud abbas has changed little in arafat's legacy, except for getting a better tailor; he continues to upgrade the plo's forces with american arms and training, while not removing the call for israel's destruction from the fatah charter, for example. clearly this is preparing the way for "continuing the struggle" - to destroy israel. the road to peace doesn't include teaching racist hatred to your children, or acquiring armoured personnel carriers. the oslo process didn't fail because arafat wanted to, but COULDN'T change, but because he never, ever, intended to deliver the goods and live in peace alongside israel. the israeli side refused to see him for what he was. (and abbas for what he is: another terrorist, in a business suit.) "it takes two sides to make peace, but only one side to make war" - golda meir z'l.

Abbas is the most flexible Palestinian by far who has dealt with Israel, so flexible that his own countrymen call him a traitor. There is only one problem, Israel. Israel will never settle for peace because the savory taste of stealing every last dunum of Palestinian Arab land is too tempting. Israel is the fly in the ointment.

This is one analysis of the problem and challenge in the region that is brilliant. Elad is right on target as he focuses on the core problem. He is right about Abbas being a clone of Arafat. Far from having peace in their mind, these Islamist-Jihadists are hellbent on the pathway of destroying Israel by their uncompromising move. They can't achieve their Charter that calls for the destruction of Israel through open war, but they are relentless in their Propaganda War in fooling and manipulating the world especially the Western world to pressure Israel to succumb to their demands. Already they have dominated the UN and the AntiSemites in the EU and America. Now that Obama is President, they think they have their man who can give the final push for them. Israel must never relent to these dark forces. Their leader is Satan. And they will continue to crusade their Jihadism till the End Time. Relenting to them by Chamberlain move will be suicidal. The only effective defense against these dark forces is to remain resolute and strong. The 'peace' of the dark forces is the destruction of Israel. Don't be fooled by their Taqiyya.

What Abu Mazen said was that he recognises Israel as a soverign state which - like every soverign state - has the right to define its own charcter. This is quite enough as a basis for peace.

they are the ones standing in the way of two state solution and peace. do you really think the world is this naive?

from people like you. I suggest you make aliyah soon because you are unwanted in america.

Not being a leftist nor a rightest, just a human being who sees things with both eyes and an open mind, I ask HOW CAN YOU MAKE PEACE WITH AN ENTITY WHICH DEMANDS YOUR DESTRUCTION? The current leader of the PA is a clone of Arafat. Arafat became wealthy from the monies donated for the benefit of the peoples he supposedly represented, the current leader's son is now the recipient of ther wealth supposedly for the same idiots who get nothing but words. There is no Palestinian entity. Merely a few groups of arabs bent upon the destruction of Israel by any means possible.