Instead of luck, maybe Kerry, with the help of some financial bribery of course, could get the terrorist Abbas to declare recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and renounce its destruction as written in every "palestinian" charter. Even better, maybe he could "Kerry" Abbas on his back like a sack of rotten potatoes and sit him at the negotiating table...with NO preconditions.

devoid of any factual merit why, dare I ask? She must be over 7 years old and as such cannot hide behind childish innocence. It must be her fanatical Leftist agenda, that one more time gets her to leave any rational thinking at home...Scary to think that people are able to reason in such unreasonable manner.

And don't talk us into an Auschwitz-border agreement giving up on our homeland. Go and make peace between the arabs. We know what peace is, do they?

How do Palestinians plan to overturn the Jewish majority in Israel? Through a Palestinian right of return. So, solve the refugee issue and Jews don't have to worry about the Jewish state. The Palestinians are in no mood to call Israel the "Jewish state" so let them resolve the underlying problem and show us thereby that they really accept a 2 state solution.

Yet another fear mongering article by a lunatic leftist who thinks turning Israel into a 9 mile wide concentration camp is a good idea. Pathetic doesn't come close to describing it..

Please reexamine history, Ireland is NOT a refuse for peace nicks, it is a pot of a mixed religiously bag of tricks and of death. Israel can't count of "luck" especially by an American Jew turned into a 'converted ' Christian, Kerry formerly Cohen. Who but those shamed change their names and their religion of political gain? Only Kerry the gigolo of the Yachting set who avoids the more expensive tax fees by fleeing ports. And, israel wants to tie her wagon tho this loser? America''s Viet Nan veterans nearly vomit when Kerry's name comes up. KEEP BUILDING !!!!!!!

oh right the "glorious" comeback of social protest (or better failed socilist propaganda by some richkids who want to live for free at the taxpayers' expense) and the glorious peace and calm we have since "oslo". What a fanatic portion of hopenonses... are the IL media funded byt eh eu?

I think that it is enough that Abbas recognizes the State of Israel --how we define ourselves is our business. Besides, we cannot even agree for ourselves exactly what being Jewish means.

What kind of people do that? Certainly not smart, brave people like yourself, Chaim. You would never indulge in 'fear mongering.'

Wishful thinking? Naivete? Merav Betito wrote: "More and more people in Israel understand today that war is bad and peace is good." War is bad and peace is good when you are dealing with peoples that have peaceful intentions. Winston Churchill reportedly told John Colville that those who complain that wars settle nothing were speaking nonsense, because “nothing in history was ever settled except by war.” I think that is good advise for Israel. It is good advice for any people that face an implacable enemy dedicated to one's destruction. Israel faces such an enemy. There will be no peace in this world. Maybe in the world to come. All else is self-deception and delusion.

This must be written by some Usefull Idiot as according to me. Arn.Sweden.

is one of the fear mongering stars of these talkbacks. His angry god is going to shred apart every soul that dares to think about making peace.

#9. You are right on target. Thankfully, Churchill knew better than to engage in sick "peace talks" with the Nazis. Churchill knew true peace comes from resounding military victory. This is an easily verifiable historic fact. The true path to peace for Israel is resounding military victory over "Palestinian" poseurs with no concesions whatsoever. The permanent peace Europe and Asia enjoy today is a direct result of the resounding WW II victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

I quite can't forget it. It was Clinton who said "fellas let'sshake hands and be friends", and I more than worry on this one.To put another Trojan horse next door is not a smart idea--let's hope and I'm sure Israel has Oslo in mind if and when this all goes down.

Even if an Agreement is possible with arrangements about the borders of each State, land swaps, Jerusalem, security, and refugees it will fail if that is all it is. Assume an Agreement is reached and Israel has its security guaranteed. The Palestinians will celebrate having their own passports, flag, stamps, and an end to the Israeli chokehold on their throats. They will honk horns and shoot bullets into the air but that will not guarantee the peace or that what was signed is more than just a piece of paper. There must be a committment of billions of dollars in aid, not to the corrupt government officials in Palestine who have squandered billions in aid for their own personal use but instead to someone like Salam Fayyad who turned the economy of the West Bank around and had transparency over all monies received. Billions must be spent immediately restoring Gaza's infrastructure, building world class hospitals and schools, giving people jobs and hope. Merely signing a peace treaty between a well to do country like Israel that is one of the top three countries in the world in technology, while expecting the Palestinians to quickly turn their standard of living and quality of life around is foolhardy. The international community as well as Israel ensure that everything possible is being done as quickly as possible to make sure the new Palestinian State thrives and prospers. Otherwise, there is no piece of paper that the two parties will sign that will change anything.

still young, naive and stupid. Come on lets all sing along, 'were off to see the Wizard.....'. Merav is in lala land.

It's these dangerous and disingenuous Alice in Wonderland types like the article writer that herald the politicians that are influenced by them who share responsibility for the death and mayhem that invariably follow.

Really...This is just plain silly.

The devil is in the detail, my friend. Abbas recognizes the State of Israel as a party to negotiations, yes, but not as a sovereign state exercising sovereign rights within recognized boundaries. Moreover, the non-recognition by the PA of Israel as a Jewish state has nothing to do with our legal or Halachic definition of what it means to be a Jew. It has to do with "right of return". The palestinians won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state because they are claiming the "right" to flood it with Arab refugees. ...As if you didn't know...

It looks as if the "preconditions" will release the most vile of terrorists and that any peace agreement is a farce to be broken as has been openly admitted by Muslims at all levels. Remember Gaza!

"The permanent peace Europe and Asia enjoy today is a direct result of the resounding WW II victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. " OK, this is not really aimed at Chaim because he only listens to himself, poor man. 1. There has not been permanent peace in Europe and Asia since WWII viz. the Balkans, Korea, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. 2. To compare the Palestinians with Nazi Germany is idiotic in the extreme. Hitler would have felt quite insulted to see his war machine measured against a population subordinated to the will of the IDF. 2. You may have noticed that both Germany and Japan received massive help from the Allies following their defeat to ensure that they are no longer a threat to peace (unlike the way Germany was treated following WWI). Of course Chaim does not propose that the same is done for the Palestinians since they are not real people, only 'poseurs'.

Largely because the Oslo process perpetually postponed the resolution of the main issues: borders, Jerusalem, refugees. In such a situation neither side trusted the other, Israel continued its incitement with settlements and Palestinians with textbooks and extremists crowned the collapse of the so-called peace process. This time it must be different. No more foot dragging. Solve the main issues in the beginning so that everyone knows the goal clearly and so can be MOTIVATED to implement it. Of course, there will also be those who will react adversely to such a clear goal but they will no longer be able to exploit the uncertainty, mistrust and hopelessness stemming from chronically unresolved basic issues. The majorities of both peoples long for peace and once the agreed goal is clear they will not allow the naysayers to prevail. There will no more be a conflict between Jews and Palestinians but between a peace-desiring majority and a fear-mongering minority. The Middle East will finally see its victory.

You wrote: "To compare the Palestinians with Nazi Germany is idiotic in the extreme. Hitler would have felt quite insulted to see his war machine measured against a population subordinated to the will of the IDF..." The so-called Palestinians are proxies for the greater Muslim and Muslim-Arab world which is in a state of war against Israel and the Jews. Do you know what international state sponsor of terrorism supports the Palestinians, Hamas, etc. in Gaza in their war effort against Israel? What international state sponsor of terrorism supports Hezbollah in their war effort against Israel? Chaim's statement, "Churchill knew better than to engage in sick 'peace talks' with the Nazis" stands. Since Germany and Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, what states have Germany and Japan invaded? Do you know Bertram?

Bertram. There is only one reason "Palestinians" aren't mass murdering Israeli Jews today, like their Nazi idols. It is a very obvious reason. They don't have the power to do so. However, they certainly do what they can to kill Jews.. All "Palestinians" covenants call for the destruction of Israel. P.A. TV calls for it every single day. "Palestinians" school texts shout the same message. "Palestinians" make no effort to hide their genocidal intent. They shout it out proudly to the whole world. There is no excuse for Israeli leaders to be ignorant of the obvious fact they are talking with people who'd love to destroy us and steal our sole tiny Homeland.

Dear Reasonable Writer ! It is good to read more of such encouraging voices for moderation and reason! Fouad Abde lNour

One needs an extraordinary amount of optimism to imagine peace coming out of the coming talks. There have been unusual and surprising peace deals throughout history, the agreement between Begin and Sadat being one of them. I personally would be happy to see Bibi strike a deal but honestly can't see it happening.

A "peace deal with Palestinians" is the worst thing that could ever happen to Israel. Israel would lose: * Freedom from constant rocket attacks. * Freedom from inundation by hostile Arabs. * Viability. Israel would be reduced to a 9 mile wide concentration camp. *Everything. Israel is INFINITELY better off without such a fraudulent deal. The true path to peace for Israel, just like for the WW II Allies, is total victory with no concessions whatsoever.

#23. All Israel needs to do is hold hands and sing Kumbaya with genocidal terrorists and all will be well... All Churchill had to do was hold hands with Nazis and sing Kumbaya and we could have avoided WW II. Meanwhile, in the real world the only true path to peace was to destroy the Nazis. Israel's only true path to peace is to soundly defeat "Palestinians" and evict them from our land.

Here's a posted comment I saw from an Israeli ID'd as "wildjew": "Prime Minister Netanyahu is driving the cost of real estate Israel through the roof by means of his building freezes in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem. Is he intentionally trying to discourage Aliyah?" Wildjew has put it in a nutshell. The point of settlement policy is to keep the price of real estate reasonable and accommodate population growth. It’s a government policy for Jewish citizens and the masses of Jews invited to move to Israel from around the globe with full immediate citizenship, yes? It’s a nation-building policy. It provides access to subsidized housing for Jewish citizens across borders in the Palestinian territories on claimed land (definitely cheaper). Military security controls the discontent of displaced locals, who are irrelevant and in the way. Economic considerations are backed by cultural beliefs in the righteousness of eminent domain. Hmmmm. It’s been done before, this business of displacing the riffraff to create more “living space” for the better sort of people, the more civilized, by their own lights. The ones who believe the coveted land is theirs, by right or might. This was called lebenstraum and the Germans acted on it by occupying their neighbor’s countries and cruelly oppressing the natives. Is this really the Jewish take-away from WWII?,,