[newheart]

“Blaming Israel and picking a fight over ‘natural growth’ may curry favor with the Muslim ‘street.’ But it will only induce the Arab states to do like Abbas: sit and wait for America to deliver Israel on a platter.”

Comin' right up.—TOTUS

[CaptainAmiigaf]

Too many words. To be blunt...”The ONLY impediment to peace in the Middle East is the continuing insistance of Israel of its right to exist”. Period. Short and to the point.

[ml/nj]

On my recent visit to Israel, I drove through the "West Bank" on my way from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea for the first time. On my two previous visits to the Dead Sea I had stayed within Green Line Israel.

This drive was a real eye-opener. You head east from Jerusalem toward the "settlement" of Maale Adumim, pass it and keep going. Except for Maale Adumim, which is looks like a rather large collection of gleaming white buildings perched atop a small mountain, there is virtually no sign of life that you pass on the one hour drive. You do pass a few signs to places (Jericho being one) and a few roadside stops that sell gas, food, and souvenirs, but those aside you don't see more than a handful of signs of human activity, nor do you see any places that look like they might support human activity. It is absolutely one of the most desolate areas I have ever seen.

And this is what they say they are fighting about? Not likely in my view.

ML/NJ

[jwparkerjr]

Were Israel to suddenly vanish from the face of the Earth there still would be no peace in the Mideast. As soon as all the Jews are gone the Muslims will turn their hatred on other Muslims who don’t believe the way they do. The idea that Israel and the Jews are responsible for the unrest in the Middle East is pure male bovine fecal matter. There are numerous sects within Islam and they often hate each other as much, or more, than Jews or Americans. Jews and Americans have an excuse for not believing ‘correctly’ in that they are infidels. But Muslims take it downright personally when another Muslim does not believe ‘correctly’, correctly being whatever sect is involved.

There will simply never be peace in that part of the world and the only way to handle that fact is to face up to it and do whatever it takes to limit, as much as possible, the violence to Muslim on Muslim violence.