Prove it big boy, show us links.

3 billion dollars every year in addition to political and military support and God knows what and you now say the USA is not you friend or ally!!! You have been milking America dry and I hope that the American people read your article carefully and demand back payments and compensation with interest. You are just a greedy, arrogant and ungrateful lot.

The screws are being tightened unevenly: only Israel feels the pressure. As such, the Arabs have an incentive to delay: the greater the pressure on Israel the better the deal they expect. Until Arabs are equally pressured, there will be no peace deal that both sides can accept!!

#1 Salma. Israel hardly needs your recognition. We have built an amazing, modern, high tech, prosperous democratic nation out of sand. We are a world leader in many fields including high tech, medicine, the military, science etc. You tell me, why does Israel need your recognition? What would Israel possibly gain from it? You seriously expect us to tear away our Eternal Capital and our heartland for such a worthless gesture? Hope you're joking.

The author is completely correct about Obama. Obama is profoundly hostile and his main goal appears to be delivering Israel to the Moslems, to whom he is constantly bowing and flattering. His plan may also include delivering the U.S. to the Moslems too. However, Israel's real problem is not Obama. If Israel had real leadership, Obama would be no problem. Obama, like any bully, becomes ever more dangerous and threatening the more you appease him. If Israel had a P.M. capable of giving Obama a very firm "NO", he'd melt away as a threat to Israel. Practically nobody in America likes Obama anymore. Israel is FAR more popular among Americans than Obama.

You have'nt gone one better Matty, you are sidestepping again. SHOW US LINKS to proove your point. Come on lad dont be so lazy !!

Post # 2 is in Germany NOT Israel.

Here is a very informative and surprisingly well-thought Wikipedia piece that you will find of interest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine By the way, General Assembly resolutions are generally nonbinding upon member states. Israel did not become a member state until 1949, but -- as everyone forgets -- while the Jews accepted partition, the Arab states did not. And once Israel received formal recognition from most of the countries in the world, the whole matter became effectively moot. Once a country extends formal recognition to another country, it cannot be withdrawn. Israel is officially recognized as a sovereign state. We're here to stay.

I'm tired of people bashing obama cuz he sat in da reverends' church for 20 years. Sure he was dere but he never inhaled!

Thankyou Sarah B. I do understand. I & my husband did not fight in Israel's wars to be told by so many Israel bashers that Israel is not a sovereign state. My kids did not serve in the IDF for nothing. Life may be hard here,but Israel is only our homeland & we have to defend it with every fibre we have.

You cannot be serious! No other nation in the history of the world has been asked to return land to another nation after being attacked by them! Enough with the double standards. When the so-called Palestinians recognize Israel's right to exist with secure borders, will Israel consider dealing with them. The country of Jordan was created to accommodate any displaced Arabs. The Israelis wanted to live with them in peace; but no, that wasn't good enough. They want Israel out of the picture forever! That is their real goal. It has been over 60 years and Israel's neighbors STILL want to destroy her.

reminds me of the silence of the Jewish community in the U.S. before and during WWII and the Holocaust. When will they ever learn?

UNGA 181 is non-binding - plus illegal since it divided the State of Israel against the UN Charter. Which of course means that the Arabs have NO legal claim to any land west of the Jordan. By the way since Israel was granted membership to the UN in 1949 EVERY other resolution dealing with Israel are also ILLEGAL. The UN is violated the Charter Article 7 - interfering in the internal affairs of a member state.

I didn't say that "Israel" needs our recognition , I said that the Palestinians without access to their full rights we won't recognize the right of anyone else on this land, Even if you became the world's Only Superpower , we don't care...now is that clear?!

dry your eyes - it was always going to happen.

First, a freeze on construction in what are, by international law, illegal settlements, is not a "territorial sacrifice". Whether their existence is right or not is irrelevant - they are technically illegal.* Freezing construction does not give up those settlements. No one is being asked to leave them. However, my main point is that Israel is the more modern and mature nation, and is a nation that has professionally-trained military and police forces. Because of that, it is held to higher standards, as I believe that it should be. Therefore, in negotiations, it is forced to make more gestures toward peace. In particular, I do think it very appropriate that if Israel wants its international relations to be governed by the rule of law, the Geneva Conventions, etc, then it does need to unambiguously fall into step with those laws itself first. I agree that the next step would be for Palestinian groups to remove anti-Israel texts from their charters, or make other similar steps themselves, but Israel does have an initial responsibility. *By the 3rd? Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a signatory, it is illegal to occupy any territory with civilians for which there was not a peace treaty. There was not a peace treaty after the 1967 war.

What would actually happen if Israel publicly became dismantled its nuclear weapons now? It would not be this doomsday scenario that writers seem to think it would be. Iran does not have nukes yet (will soon, but not yet), and Israel would still have by far the most powerful military in the Middle East, not to mention the most powerful allies. However, we tend to forget that most majority-Muslim Middle Eastern groups / countries (incorrectly grouped under one name of "Arab") are not actually very friendly with each other. Even in recent history, we have the first Gulf War, the Iran-Iraq War, sectarian violence in Iraq, etc. If Israel became nuclear-free, it would bring a lot of pressure from other Middle Eastern states against Iran. Other countries don't want to be subordinate to Iran, but they would be if Iran possessed nuclear weapons. That may actually be the most effective way to push Iran away from its nuclear ambitions... I don't actually have much of an opinion over whether the Middle East should become a nuclear-free zone, but whether it does or not does not make or break Israel's security. It is not a doomsday scenario, and its suggestion should not be automatically deemed as an affront to Israel. Remember, this is all a political theater - if the U.S. suggests that it might push for a nuclear-free Middle East, then that may very well increase Arab support for pressuring Iran - whether or not the suggestion is actually followed through with.

Are non-existent. You are illegally occupying our lands. Get off our lands and return to YOUR own - east of the Jordan. That is in toto your 'rights'.

Salma, you have rights, as an Arab and Moslem, in dozens of Arab and Moslem states. So go to such a state and enjoy all your rights. You have no national rights in our sole, tiny Homeland. You don't want to recognize Israel and Israel has no need for your recognition. So your non-recognition of Israel poses no problem.

First off - the occupation you speak of is by the Arabs. They are illegally on our lands. We have international LAW on our side. All land west of the Jordan River belongs to us and cannot be given to another government or group. So your rant about the Geneva Convention is moot. The Arabs have not a single legal claim. I am so glad you are willing to gamble with our lives. Sorry but it's not your say, nor the UN's or anybody else for that matter. A thought experiment re: nuclear free United States. Show the whole world how safe it will be if YOU disarmed.