Arafat had the UNGA recognize the Palestinian State in 1988, he got no real land, did nothing for peace, and the Palestinians have nothing to show for it. What does Abbas expect this to do for his people? They will still not have a contiguous country - Israel will remain located between Gaza and the West Bank. They will not have a real boarder as everyone agrees that it needs to be negotiated. They will not have the ability to govern what little they have as they can not form a government and have avoided elections for 2 years.

Can someone explain to him that 181 and 242 are not relevant to the current Palestinian aspirations. 181 was rejected by all of the Arab nations in the UN and has long since been superseded by multiple wars. 242 refers to land lost in the '67 war, and there was no Palestine in the '67 war. Thus a return to the pre-1967 lines (i.e. the 1948 armistice lines) would have Gaza go back to Egypt and most of the West Bank going back to Jordan. Again there would be no Palestine unless they could convenience those 2 countries to give them the land. Either way there is no legal justification for the creation of a new country between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Again ,I agree with you.Of course Bibi is a far more experienced leader than Obama and the American people would be nuts to hand him another 4 years but I think that Obama has not forgotten the humiliation he received .What I really mean is that Bibi might be pressured within Israel it self if he is too tough. Not sharing water with Gaza would look very bad to the rest of the world. I believe that future wars will be about water.Also about Shalit-Bibi should knock off a Hamas leader every week until Shalit is released. After about 30 0r so leaders dead the Pallies would be beside themselves and Israel would not have to compromise about anything with the "Palestinians".Anyway,cheers.

There are 78 days until the opening of the UN General Assembly. There are a billion possible moves of the cube that can be made. Only some of them will lead to the correct configuration. Here are some possible scenarios... (A)The Same Old, Same Old Scenario The various parties, i.e. The State of Israel, the Settlers in Judea and Samaria, the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the regional neighbours remain intransigent and will not talk to each other. Result = Violence will continue. The vacuum of courage, vision and trust building at the top will results in a trickledown effect of more chaos. Nothing is solved. Stagnation ensues. Everyone feels isolated and disconnected. Divine Score for this scenario 2/10. (B)The Divine Intervention Scenario A divinely mandated wise counsellor/mediator/facilitator/overseer bloke and his team are invited to Jerusalem. A series of meetings with and between all the parties takes place. A divinely mandated plan is enunciated and crucial points of agreement are reached. The points of agreement become the foundation for further trust building initiatives. Some details will be "fuzzy". But G-d will fill in the gaps if the will for peace is there. The parties will learn that trust building is not about cold, clinical measures of control. They will also wake up to the fact that the big points this bloke has been talking about for fifteen years are 100% fact. i.e. The universe is stable, ordered, benevolent and expansive. Violence is not innate. The world is abundant in resources. Peace unfolds over time. There will still be incidents of violence but the trend will be towards Ganeden. GDP will rise in the region and the general welfare will increase. Divine Rating 10/10 (C) The “That’s a Good Idea” Scenario The UN General Assembly meeting is transformed into an International Peace Conference to be held in Jerusalem ASAP. Within three to five months would be feasible. It doesn't matter if the Sep, 13th date is extended as long as all the parties hold their fire. If they know such a high level trust building meeting is coming up with all the nations and a special mediator involved then they will be able to take a deep breath and come to the table with some sincerity. Divine Rating - 10/10 (Scenario B can dovetail nicely in with scenario C. It’s all about setting up the right form of long-term sovereignty for the Holy Land, Middle East and Planet Earth.) (D) Satan Scoops the Pool Scenario Over the next two years everyone escapes to their gated communities, security cameras and armaments. They shut up shop, watch reality TV shows, ignore their neighbours and decide that everyone else is an object to be profited from. The corpulent leaders wallow in their egos, refuse to lower themselves to meet with each other, drag up old past wrongs, hurl abuse at each other and meet less than the pitiful fifteen, yes 15 hours ! that Bibi and Abbas did in 2010/2011. Arms dealers make their billions. Subterfuge dominates. The Nothing takes over. Someone launches a few big missiles at Israel. Iran races to enrich their uranium and secretly gets a weapon. WW III breaks out. Millions are killed. Divine Rating - Minus 10 (Except of course if you want Armageddon)

An enforcement 64 years late.

Why was the PLO formed in 1963? To free the occupied lands of 1967? The problem was the occupation? Deir Yassin? Let's avoid the term "typical arabs" then.. Do you agree most arabs , and certainly arab leadership (which seems to be less aggressive towards israel than the people), do not accept a jewish state. Don't just throw the fact out 'cos you don't like the term "typical arabs".

as fictional VAT this new Kosovo's style mafia state will not survive for a month. A big political tzunami, we have been frightened with for the past months is turning into a huge pile of sh-t Let our stupid left loosers, who inspired this idea, "intellectuals", who protested and signed supporting letters smell it together "palestinians". Enjoy.

Palestinians will go to UN for bid to create their State in September They are blufing, but when the world will call their bluf, we will see what happens. Probably after they see they did not obtain what they wanted another Antifada in Conjuntion with another Lebanon war will come. Unfortunately more deaths and more mysery to them. And probably also to Israel in a way. And only because deep in their hearts they want to destroy Israel, there has never been a true peace intention. Most of the failure of this process at this point is due to Obama, maybe his intentions were good but he miscalculated many things: 1. He adviced Abbas to stick to a settlement freeze (this was never been asked before in any peace agreement)Now Abbas is climbed in a tree where he does not know how to get down(nevertheless Israel froze for then months and Palestinians beat arround the bush for more than nine months demanding absurd things. 2. He talked about 1967 borders. That was a subject to be negotiated by the parties. Not a precondtion. He tried to bach up a little in the Aipac conference but the dammage was done. instead why he did not mention res 242 which talks about defensible borders. 3. He did not mention about the refugee problem which is crutial to end the deathlock. .

Let them have it but without any help whatsoever from Israel, i.e. water; electricity etc. etc. etc. The new arab state will be a dead end for all arabs under the authority of Hamas/Abbas etc. etc. etc. In other words absolutely unrecognized by Israel. And if Israel must hold the present convicts in their Prisons then all provisions must come from the new arab state. Get TOUGH Bibi. And whilst you're at it, remove all arabs from their seats in the Knesset!

I have been to Israel 10 times in the past 8 years. I love the land. Bibi speaks truth. There are plenty of Arabs who are doing very well as Israeli citizens in the Land. They fare better under the Jewish state than they would in an Arab state. Arab and Jew can live in peace if the Arab wants to and will stop believing the terrorist propaganda

As much as I'd like to see the scenario you just described, I don't think it would go down very big in the world. These are the things that Bibi needs to think about. It doesn't mean he's not tough enough. He's just trying to slog his way through the hypocrisy of world politics without Israel getting slapped with sanctions, in which case, there would be clamoring for new elections, with no guarantee of re-election on his part.

Palestine can claim it as theirs. Not a ONE. The Palestinians are a fictitional race of people who ended up in NEVER-NEVER land thousands of years ago. Israel was chosen as a people and a country from the beginning of time of the only true G-d. In Genesis Chapter One G-d says "You (Jews) will be my chosen people, and I will be your G-d. Abraham, a Jew was God's chosen to deliver the Chosen People of the world, namely the Jews. Even the first born of Abraham was named ISRAEL which later became Isaac. Can this comment be refuted with other proven facts. And please, no clowns write in and "prove" that Mohammad was the fist born. Incidentally, the first-born arab was a Bastard child to Sarah's Hand Maiden Ketura known today as a Nomad (from the arabian deserts).

result and disconnect Gaza from the West Bank totally; when it ceases to transfer funds to "Palestinian Authority" and ensures that any armed forces in the territories are disarmed, among other measures, the "Palestinians" will not come running to Israel asking for forgiveness.

Lets forget the entire biblical & historic reasons into why Israel should belong to the Jews and look no further than 1948. Israel was created for the sole reason of creating a Jewish state. It wasn't about a need for another western religiously neutral country or a binational state it was about creating a state for one particular group of people ( Jews ) and if it was anything else then Israel would have no right to exist. The settlement program itself developed for security needs not religious ideology and if it hadn't been for a lack of will to make peace on the arab part the settlement program would have never taken off. Today over 60 years have passed since the first settlement went up and political circumstance means its not so easy anymore to just say close them all down. What a government can pull off politically and what you can tell it to do for the sake of peace making etc are not the same thing. For third parties its easy to dictate terms but when your running an elected government, especially a coalition government its alot harder.

Thank you, brother Salomon, for your good answer. If peace becomes entirely impossible, if Israel is attacked again, the Jewish people will not stay isolated. We, true Christians, will support your struggle with much intensity. I salute you. (Um abraço, in Portuguese).

if the zionists have the right on a unilateral, premature state, then the palestinians and any other people have the right to establish their own state too. a bi-national state for jews and palestinians is even still better. i wish the palestinian people much success in achieving this. FOR A FREE, DEMOCRATIC, INDEPENDANT AND SOVEREIGN PALESTINIAN STATE AT THE LEAST!!!! FOR A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC WORLD!!!!!!

I am an American and Israel should have the same right that we in America enjoy to exercise our ability to defend ourselves against all who threaten us. Everyone is so quick to point their finger at Israel, but for a minute, put yourself in their shoes. Israel is being told to fully comply to both the settlement construction and accept the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders. Borders that are clearly “indefensible.” Israel would become a mere 9 miles wide in certain areas. This would undoubtedly lead to their destruction. Prime Minister Netanyahu said it best: “In America, you need to ask the question, WWAD, What Would America Do?” What would we do if England or Spain asked us to return to our pre-1776 borders? We would never dream of it. It sound ridiculous to think of, but that is exactly what Israel is facing.

The two state solution will never work. The real goal of the Palestinians is not just the pre-1967 borders, but all of Israel. That country will be indefensible if they retreat to those borders. Israel earned the land that it has today in the 1967 six day war (a war of defense and not aggression) The surrounding countries effectively declared war on Israel and were preparing to invade it. The same might happen again if Israel were to give massive land concessions.