Before '67 there we two States - Jordan and Israel. There was no Palestine! That is in accordance with the UN Resolution on Partition in 1947. Thomas Friedman: "Palestinians would gain recognition of statehood and UN membership, within provisional boundaries, with Israel and America voting in favor. And the Israelis would get formal UN recognition as a Jewish state — with the Palestinians and Arabs voting in favor." What has the man been smoking or has his "lemonade" fermented and addled his brain! Israel and Palestine and where might the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan be? Does Mr. Friedman propose that our neighborly King Abdullah will become a subject of Hamas controlled Palestine? Palestine is a fictitious entity which actual means "Israel under Palestinian Rule"! That means Palestinian State form Metulla in the north to Eilat in the South and Jews OUT! it should be noted The name "Palestine" is the cognate of an ancient word meaning "Philistines" or "Land of the Philistines" (Wikipedia) We all know that the Philistines lived in what is now Gaza so THEY HAVE THEIR STATE! The name goes back to about 450BCE, a time when there were NO Palestinians in this area but JEWS there were! The nice Romans gave them and Christians to lions as lunch and dinner! There were no Muslims at that time so they could not have been thrown to the nice pussy cats.

It's obvious that this issue is complex. Under the guise of security, other kinds of treatment not representative of "true" Zion shouldn't be being administered. People can still be considerate of Israel and not be looking to deny security. But, you can limit the activity of security to only that, not other depressing actions. There is another way of looking at the allocation. There are the areas Israelis are not allowed to enter by Israeli law and there are the areas the bus lines serve. You can figure so much out from that, be imaginative and think of the lives of Esau and Jacob.

Dear Tom, Please do a big favour to all of us Americans and Israelis. Stop for a while writing about Israel, look around and see how many intelligent, knowledgeable people of the history of the middle east region look at you in disbelief. You are pushing your ideas which have no grounds, no validity and all of us are getting tired to read your phantasy about the resolution of the so-called Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Please change topic, find something else in another part of the world because in this part of the world your pen is getting dull and boring. You are not anymore the famous Tom Friedman. Understand this finally.

Agree....I liked Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem. These days, he makes me wanna retch.

General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 would have given the arabs A state in 45% of mandate Palestine plus they would have beeen given Jaffa Jerusalem would have become a seperate autonomus zone adminstered internationally. It would not have been part of either the arab or Jewish state It also said that arabs in the Jewish state could stay and Jews in the arab state could say. You cannot change the wording of a passed UN resolution just because it suits you. You can pass new resoutions but you can't reword old ones. So if we want to adopt 181 then it means Israel must give the arabs 45% of mandate Palestine rather than the remaining 22% which was left in the hands of Jordan & Egypt after the ceacefire lines were declared in 1949. That would mean giving not just the land we captured in 1967 but a whole chunk of land from within the so called green line and Jaffa. It would also mean not just giving up east Jerusalem as the Obama plan would have us do but give it all up. We either adopt 181 in its entirity as it was envisioned in 1947 when it was passed or we dump it and look for new solutions which is wht oslo has been about. There is also of course the little issue that in 1947 neither side had anything so neither side was in much of a position to argue terms. Does the author think Israel will agree to give up so much of its territory and Jerusalem or that the arabs would be willing accept 500,000 settlers? This thing is so amuter Tom Frediman could have dreamed it up while he was taking a shower. There is no research into the practicality or the legality because you can't legally change the wording of a UN resolution once its passed and it doesn't take into account the idea that Israel and the arabs might object.

Go Back to prior to 1917 Lines and consider all "Arab Lands: part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Go back to 1846 and give Texas back to Mexico. Thomas Friedman, the fool, should be elected President of the PLO.

The question is whether your israeli brothers will listen to you?

Mecca Hejazi clan out of East Israel NOW!

How is Friedman's idea different from Ehud Barak's,"we over here, them over there ".

Thomas Friedman is a dreamer, with good intentions. Since he likes old adages i.e. "taking lemons and making lemonade", remember this one Thomas: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". While I believe Thomas Friedman wants the best for Israel, he has become twisted by his well known friendships among the Arabs. He believes his friendships are strong and these people wouldn't mislead him, he's wrong. I've listened to him speak many times, I believe he is sincere, that he wants to help with the peace process. He just is/has been manipulated by his strong desire to help solve the problems. Now, and for some time, has become a danger to the process and Israel. He believes his solutions are right, but if they are not, he won't be the one who has to pay. In the real world, in our world when your wrong people die. In this case those people will be the Jewish people of Israel. Put simply, I believe Thomas Friedman want peace so badly, he is so weary of war...something the Arabs intend...that he is willing to believe anything, take any chance to achieve peace. But it's not that simple. Peace, is not just the absence on conflict, is it? But the presence of justice, something no Arab country has shown, including the Palestinians. So how can there be a true peace.

Friedman would have a more realistic, less rose-colored glasses view of the situation, if he stopped writing from his home on the planet Neptune, and came down to planet Earth.

He returned to Europe where his folks came from & that the USA would return America to the American Indians and that California, Texas, Arizona & New Mexico be returned to Mexico The fact is that Friedman is desperately attempting to increase readership for the once upon a time vaunted NYT, which is on the verge of bankruptcy Aside from the fact that the Times has been caught quite a few times with posting stories that were outright lies

no point in wasting time reading him or his mother rag, the NYT. Wake me up when they are both officially stored in formaldehyde, relics of some by-gone era..

We will consider the illegal UN General Assembly resolution (it violated the UN Charter and the Mandate for Palestine) if and only if the US returns to their 1776 borders and not one second before. We sure have a lot of moronic foreigners telling us what to do in our own country.

jordan is' historic' arab palestine..the 1947 plan dives israel into 2 statesbeside jordan-a third state--the plan lasted only hours because the borders invited agreesion and were indefensible

Tom the Fool Friedman- keep your inane, impractical views to yourself and the poisonous NY Times- the only publication these days that will overlook your horrendous record of pseudojournalism and dubious credibility

He is right and he is wrong Unfortunatelly we need to bring the partition back (right thing) But the 1923 partition (this is where he is wrong)

To Zionist Forever: your points are well taken, but im sure Friedman aint listening, as we say here. Look, Israel by right should also have Trans Jordan ( Eastern Palestine) as part of its soveignty. This is all a lot of crap. Friednman, and others, are, as my father used to say, thinking with their behinds..empty words meaning nothing. But his perch at the NYTimes gives him clout, just as the biased reporters @ Time Magazine's give it clout. The hate Israel crowd is beaming, each time they read this rot. Friedman is a joke..( review his biography) .Why the Times retains him is beyond me? His bete noir were the Israeli settlements. now hes on to the latest PLAN, the 67 borders with land swaps. The Pales will never btw agree to Obamas plan (ask Hamas, Hez). Fayyad is getting his uppance from Hamas for agreeing to any US/Israeli proposal. In the end, the Pales will get nothing. My advice: the: Allon Plan, with adjustments, a unified Jerusalem . Israel control over the borders of the territories...governed by Fatah, or whomever. Re: Gaza, Iran will ship in heavy arms..unless Israel goes back in, slices it in 5 parts..(no setltements). and takes Hamas out once and for all. Goldstone be damned.

I live in California. We took the land from Mexico, along with several other border states. Manhattan was robbed for 24.00, if my memory serves me well. All of the country was conquored from the hundreds of indian tribes. The French-Indian War changed the facts on the ground, as did btw the Revolutionary War. (England did not appreciate the loss). Florida was part of Spain. I mean come on. Unless you are a Mormon, no prophet ever set foot in No. America. (NYState). The Pales are not mentioned in the Koran or Jewish Torah, or any Christian text of that era. The Balfour Declaration gave we Jews a homeland in the former British Mandate. Most of it was never complied with. In fact, Jordan should be a Jewish state. Israel needs to stop apologizing..and acting as if IT lost 10 wars for its survival.

BEEING AWARETHAT HE LOST RATING FOR HIS ARTICLES. HE TRIES AGAIN TO BE REMEMBERED BY HIS ECCENTRIC IDEAS !!!

... you don't put toothpaste back into the tube. Israel has been dragged into six wars (all started by the Arabs); Israel has had to contend with seven decades of brutally violent Arab terror, visited upon Jews both in Israel and in the diaspora. The ersatz "Palestinians" are a vanquished people. They must pay in the same way that ALL vanquished people do -- they shut up; they accept, with immense gratitude, whatever crumbs Israel may very generously choose to toss their way and they STOP WHINING. The ersatz "Palestinians" have rejected a two-state solution on no fewer than three occasions -- the last one would have given them 90% of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a capital. They chose to start the second intifada instead. You cannot undo history, and you cannot go back to square one. I'm sure the Germans would be delighted to have East Prussia back; it doesn't work that way. I'm sure the Italians would be delighted to have Istria back; it doesn't work that way. I'm sure the Japanese would be delighted to have all of Okinawa back; it doesn't work that way. Six wars; seven decades of violence and terror; three rejected opportunities for a two-state solution. I think the ersatz "Palestinians" are fresh out of opportunities. Israel will annex Judea and Samaria and send its Arab residents to Jordan, country of their citizenship. Then, maybe, we can have a little peace and quiet. For once.