US Once Again Urges Progress Towards 2 States

INN ^ | 4-3-10 | Reported

[Tigen]

(IsraelNN.com) The United States administration once again urged the government of Israel and the American-backed Palestinian Authority to promote dialogue on Friday...The American government, and much of the international community, strongly advocates an Israeli surrender of Judea, Samaria and most of Jerusalem to the PA.

[Tigen]

Daniel 8:23-25

23And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

24And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

25And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

[EGPWS]

The most powerful people in the world leading the most powerful country ever to exist and they just don't get it.

One side is obliterated and there will be peace, otherwise peace in the ME will never be.

Most in the average Joe category understand this.

[GrandmaPatriot]

If you are suggesting this is Obama, I think you are giving him way too much credit. I think he is an ordinary tin cup dictator want-to-be.

[Carry_Okie]

Now that the Palis have had plenty of time and kept none of their agreements, it must mean that Israel must concede more.

[NTHockey]

When is he going to push this at home? After all, he has widened the divide between the evil LIBs and the good Conservatives.

[highlander_UW]

Recently I’ve seen calls for a 2 state solution...in the United States. We can go by next Nov’s results. blue counties go with democrats, and red counties go with conservatives. And then we can swap and relocate county by county for the stranded and isolated counties.

[rae4palin]

Obama is not THE antichrist but he is AN antichrist.

[troublesome creek]

Completely agree. He’s a tin-horn and no more than that. Obie would wee wee up if he ever came into the presence of Satan’s own man.

[GrandmaPatriot]

Yea, I meant tin horn not tin cup. That’s what happens when you can’t think straight anymore. Must be old age catching up with me even though I run as fast as I can.

[ncfool]

I think that we should devide into Obummers two America’s

The Red States and the Blue States.

Each color is responsible for their own citizens.

[Tigen]

In street language

The Message (MSG)
Daniel 8:23-25

23-26”’As their kingdoms cool down
and rebellions heat up,
A king will show up,
hard-faced, a master trickster.
His power will swell enormously.
He’ll talk big, high-handedly,
Doing whatever he pleases,
knocking off heroes and holy ones left and right.
He’ll plot and scheme to make crime flourish—
and oh, how it will flourish!
He’ll think he’s invincible
and get rid of anyone who gets in his way.
But when he takes on the Prince of all princes,
he’ll be smashed to bits—
but not by human hands.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Recently I’ve seen calls for a 2 state solution..

Israel chose to do this and also chose to agree to the principles and the framework of the Oslo Accords that they are operating under now.

People usually get trapped by what they agree to do and what they "sign" ... doncha know ...

Once they did that kind of agreement, you're not going to find any other country in the world who will step in and offer to do that in Israel's place... doncha know...

Their mistake was engaging in the Oslo Accords in the first place. It's too late now...

Oslo Accord - Principles of the Accords

In essence, the accords called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and affirmed a Palestinian right of self-government within those areas through the creation of a Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority. Palestinian rule was to last for a five-year interim period during which "permanent status negotiations" would commence - no later than May 1996 - in order to reach a final agreement. Major issues such as Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlements, and security and borders were to be decided at these permanent status negotiations (Article V). Israel was to grant interim self-government to the Palestinians in phases.

Along with the principles, the two groups signed Letters of Mutual Recognition - the Israeli government recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, while the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism as well as other violence, and its desire for the destruction of the Israeli state.

The aim of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations was to establish a Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority, an elected Council, for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, for a transitional period not exceeding five years, leading to a permanent settlement based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, and 338, an integral part of the whole peace process.

In order that the Palestinians govern themselves according to democratic principles, free and general political elections would be held for the Council.

Jurisdiction of the Palestinian Council would cover the West Bank and Gaza Strip, except for issues that would be finalized in the permanent status negotiations. The two sides viewed the West Bank and Gaza as a single territorial unit.

The five-year transitional period would commence with Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho area. Permanent status negotiations would begin as soon as possible between Israel and the Palestinians. The negotiations would cover remaining issues, including: Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlements, security arrangements, borders, relations and cooperation with other neighbors, and other issues of common interest.

There would be a transfer of authority from the Israel Defence Forces to the authorized Palestinians, concerning education and culture, health, social welfare, direct taxation, and tourism.

The Council would establish a strong police force, while Israel would continue to carry the responsibility for defending against external threats.

An Israeli-Palestinian Economic Cooperation Committee would be established in order to develop and implement in a cooperative manner the programs identified in the protocols.

A redeployment of Israeli military forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would take place.

The Declaration of Principles would enter into force one month after its signing. All protocols annexed to the Declaration of Principles and the Agreed Minutes pertaining to it, were to be regarded as part of it.

[mulligan]

Thought maybe they were talking about America. Blue States and Red States.

[highlander_UW]

Well, I’m still in favor of a 2 state solution in the US.

[Jim Noble]

It's almost time for a two-state solution right here.

I just don't want to be behind enemy lines.

[ncfool]

Do you sense its going to be time for a new AMERICAN REVOLUTION?

[Star Traveler]

President Obama, President Bush, President Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu (the U.S. government and the Israeli government) -- ALL -- support a "two-state solution" for Israel and the Palestinians...

Two State Solution - Recent Events

In the 1990s the pressing need for a peace in the area brought the two-state idea back to centre stage. At one point in the late 1990s, considerable diplomatic work went into negotiating a two-state solution between the parties, including the Oslo Accords and culminating in the Camp David 2000 Summit, and follow-on negotiations at Taba in January 2001. However, no final agreement was reached.

Variations include a Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip or some portion thereof. In some proposals raised in talks with the Palestinians there would have been territorial adjustments involving some small sections of current Israeli territory.

Some hold that the two-state solution was implemented in 1922 when Britain split off the eastern 75% of the Mandate to create Transjordan which became Jordan, a state with an Palestinian Arab majority population.

Some Israeli politicians, such as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, argue for a form of two-state solution in which a Palestinian state is granted most of the attributes of an independent state but denied certain aspects of sovereignty that might allow it to threaten Israel. Netanyahu argues, for example, that the future state's ability to import arms should be restricted. The Palestinian leadership does not view such proposals as being in the true spirit of the two-state solution concept.

Possible two-state solutions have been discussed by Saudi and US leaders. In 2002, Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed the Arab Peace Initiative, which garnered the unanimous support of the Arab League. President Bush announced his support for a Palestinian state, opening the way for UN Security Council Resolution 1397, supporting a two state solution. Christian communities in Israel also back the solution.

In a 2007 poll of adults in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by the Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre, 46.7% of respondents favored a two-state solution, followed by 26.5% for a binational state. However support is lower among younger Palestinians; U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted: "Increasingly, the Palestinians who talk about a two-state solution are my age."

At the Annapolis Conference in November, 2007, the three major parties—Palestinians (Fatah but not Hamas government in Gaza), Israelis, and Americans—agreed on a two-state solution as the outline for Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations. Nevertheless the problems of such a solution are in the details of mainly three topics with great differences of view between the participants, namely the status and borders of Jerusalem and its Temple Mount, the borders of the future Palestinian state, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the return of the Palestinian refugees.

Among Israelis, main objections are fears about security without the Jordan valley and full Israeli airspace and frontier control, the Jewish historical religious adherence to the Judean Hills (the name for the mountain range of the Judea region upon which Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located) with the Palestinian population centers there[citation needed] (comparable to situation of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo), Jerusalem as the postulated capital of two states, the "fingers" of Israeli settlements deeply in the Judean hills with at least three to four practical non-contiguous and non-self-sustainable enclaves of Palestinian population centers as well as the future of localities inhabited by Jews in the West Bank.

Most of these topics have been integrated in the peace proposal of the Geneva accord by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, elaborated and signed under Swiss auspices. But until now it has not been a discussion directly between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. The more Israeli settlements are built in the West Bank, the more difficult this demographic pressure makes the finding of a peace solution acceptable to both sides.

As of 2009, both United States and European Union gave clear messages that the Israeli government, failing to abide by the "common agenda" of two-state solution, would not be acceptable itself. In March 2009, European ministers urged new Israeli government led by prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to accept Palestinian state or face "consequences".

On June 4, 2009, President Barack Obama delivered a major address to the Muslim World in Cairo, Egypt. In the speech, he supported the two-state solution.

"For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers – for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel’s founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security." - President Barack Obama.

On June 14, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech at Bar Ilan University, where he, for the first time in his career, endorsed the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. He called on it to be demilitarized.

On July 19, 2009, Netanyahu said "United Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel," and "Israeli sovereignty in the city is indisputable." while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat countered with "The job of the Israeli Prime Minister should be to prepare his people for what it takes to make peace," and "He knows very much that there will never be peace between Palestinians and Israelis without East Jerusalem being the capital of the Palestinian state."

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Well, I’m still in favor of a 2 state solution in the US.

I think Lincoln shot that one down a while back... :-)

[highlander_UW]

I think Lincoln shot that one down a while back... :-)

It may be time to revisit that one. I was suggesting we can break it down by counties, blue counties go to obamaland, red counties go to the constitutional US. And then we can clean up the isolated counties by trading and relocating anyone who wishes to move, but most can just stay in their own counties.