why the present US administration does not demand such gestures towards the nation-state of the Jewish people...??!!

The media reporting is awful. I have read other reports no prisoner release.

I have read many stories where there will be no gestures before talks. The israel media is out to get Bibi and take him down. Every day they are utterly relentless.

If Israel's gestures in the past have been forgotten nor appreciated. Why should Israel bother. At best it will be forgotten at worse it will harm Israel diplomatically or cause some one to die. Why use the same policy failures/gestures agian and again when they don't work?!

USA now desires to get rid of Israel; does Defence Minister eat stupid pills or is he just playing along in charade? I think DM still lives in dream of "2000 summer camp David" when he was PM. He is desperate that his 2000 folly be achieved to prove to the world "I was right"'; this obsession blinds DM to reality: he was wrong!

this is a clip of hahatzufim made into reality. I cannot take these people seriously. Oh well, if we are headed towards war might as well make the Americans really look stupid by giving into their demands then retake "lost" territories in the next war.

gesture precisely because, as you say, it is the nation-state of the Jewish people. I assure you, if it were the nation-state of any other people the disciple of Rev. Wright and the close friend of Min. Farakhan would act differently!!!

Barak was the man who kept Olmert in power. Do you really think Barak did not know about Holyland, Mamila, Light Rail and Atlit? It's that simple.

if you want to talk to us then you have to give us what we want first believe me that is the best thing for us if you dont give us then we take our toys and go to cry to mommy

Any talks now are only going to hurt Israel and will not lead to peace. Abbas does not speak for at least 60% of the Palestinians. Why is Israel so eager to help Obama when he will not support Israel nor will he stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

"allowing the Palestinians to operate their own institutions in Jerusalem, such as the Orient House, the trade bureau and other bodies." G-d Forbid!

The Arab/Palestinian dream of an independent Palestinian state with no Israel. Time has come for a substantive shift in thinking to end the Arab/Palestinian dream of an independent Palestinian state with no Israel, as being part of a solution to the Israel-Palestinian/Arab conflict. Surely by now it should be evident to all that the Palestinians ability to bring an independent and self sufficient and self sustaining state into existence is utterly hopeless and there is no reasonable prospect that time will change that fact. A realistic analys of the Israelo-Arab conflict at : http://xrl.us/bjxav

It is a carefully created myth that the Arabs who today call themselves "Palestinians" once had their own nation called Palestine. Palestine (Palestina), after all, is the name the Romans gave to the Jewish kingdoms of Israel and Judah after defeating them in 135 CE (AD). Up until the creation of the modern state of Israel, it was the Jews of Palestine who were called "Palestinians." The Palestine Post was the name of today's Jerusalem Post, for instance. The Arabs, who migrated to the land relatively recently compared to the Jews, only took the name "Palestinians" in the 1960's, shortly after the "Palestinian" Jews resuscitated the Jewish nation of Israel and called themselves "Israelis." Before that, the Arabs considered themselves as simply Arabs, part of the greater Arab world. More about the history of the “Palestinians at : http://xrl.us/berwte

Bibi, don’t commit suicide. You’ve stood your ground. Don’t move an inch. The promises you and your party made during the elections that brought you to power did not include concessions. Let experience teach you lesson. CONCESSION 1 AMONGST OTHERS: The US, EU, UN persuaded Israel to leave Lebanon. Israel accepted the persuasion and left Lebanon. Hexbolah is building up arms in Lebanon to destroy Israel, and what has the US, EU, UN done. Nothing. CONCESSION 2 AMONGST OTHERS: Israel was persuaded to leave Gaza which it did. Today, the Hamas are building up arms and rocketing Israel. What has the US, EU, UN done. Nothing. Since the inception of Obama’s administration, no condemnation has ever come out from the US government against the rockets attack from Gaza against Israel, even when a commissioned officer – a major was killed in one of such attacks. Look at the gestures being forcefully demanded. What is the PA giving in return? Nothing. Giving out some part of Judea and Samaria to Abbas will be highly regretted later, because Hamas, backed by Iran will certainly over-run them and become a terror to Israel tomorrow. By the way, where is Lieberman? Where is Ayalon. Where are the others. What is happening to the issue of Israel’ sovereignty – recognition of Israel’s existence. Is Bibi becoming weak because of the Iranian threat? Any agreement reached through cohesion does not stand the test of time. Agreement/Settlements are done through peaceful ways and not through cohesion. Obama has refused to listen to the voice of reason because of human power which is not divine. It is temporal. I pray the good LORD will not treat him like Pharoah, Nebuchednezer and Herod particularly on the issue of Jerusalem which the Almighty God has promised He will defend.

This is what I read from a writer and I quote: If you are so sure that "Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded history," I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of Palestine : 1. When was it founded and by whom? 2. What were its borders? 3. What was its capital? 4. What were its major cities? 5. What constituted the basis of its economy? 6. What was its form of government? 7. Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat? 8. Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation? 9. What was the language of the country of Palestine ? 10. What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine ? 11. What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date. 12. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur? You are lamenting the "low sinking" of a "once proud" nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation" proud and what was it so proud of? And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over – or thrown out of – the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War? I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work here. The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it "the Palestinian people," and installed it in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza, respectively? The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so-called "Palestinians" have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a nation" -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled. In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the Middle East. Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing side should, pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of their terrorist organization from the land of Israel and accepting Israel's ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. That will mark the end of the Palestinian people. What are you saying again was its beginning?

gestures of their own? Why can't the Palestinians, for example, accept Israel's right to exist as the national home of the Jewish people? Such an acceptance would go a long way toward peace and it is legally based on United Nations resolutions? I think, if Obama ever wishes to receive our support in the future, he should not only cater to the Muslims but also to the Jewish community of the U.S..

Why should Israel offer gestures to a body which does not recognise its legitimacy and wishes everyone of its inhabitants to drown?

Why not just grab a jar of vaseline.

Sorry, but the guy you have as PM just hung himself with his own rope. Yvette was right. The concessions will never end and you get nothing return.

Goodwill gestures ARE REQUIRED from Israel that are always rebuffed but never any gestures from the Palestinians by the fraudulent US peace Road Map.. Appeasement by any other name. This is the US recipe for weakening Israel. How foolish of servile Israel to go along with this agenda which will never bring peace.

state of the Jewish people now and peace talks can move on without a delay. Refusal to accept Israel's right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people can only be interpreted as refusal to accept a treaty as the end of the conflict. In which case, America must, must demand of the Palestinian President to have a similar speech to that of Netanyahu at Bar Ilan University and announce it that speech his idea of a two states for two peoples.

All these cries of that the Palestinians are not asked to make gestures as if living under occupation wasn’t enough. Demanding that the Palestinians make gestures is like asking Gilad Shalit to make gestures so he can be released. Like Shalit the Palestinians are held captive, millions of them, so what gestures can they make? Not resist the occupation by violent means? Sure they can try that but what happens after Israel stalls the peace process again and keeps building in the west bank and east Jerusalem? Are to Palestinians to just sit back and let more settlers take over their land, destroy their houses and drive them from the land?

bibi say no, what is so hard. In the meantime, tikuun can go to hell for honoring goldstone. His daughter will never again work for Baycrest as she tried to smooth over his evil 5th rate report by a bunch of hacks especially chinkin.

the Arabs who initiated all the wars against Israel in the first place? Is this the "even handedness" of the United States and its approach toward the tiny Jewish state which faces a whole Muslim and Arab world ready to erase it off the face of earth? Shame on you, America!

On off On off On off On off ..off off On On and so it goes boringly on like a reluctant bride and bridegroom And because the couple (Israel and PA) are so close (geographically speaking) they cant ignore each other..even if they want to! So what do you want to start talking - Tibetan bells, holistic music and aromatherapy? Just get on with it ALREADY!