When the arabs leave, there will be peace.

And granting some syrian bathist (direct sons of nazis )commentator a place in american media is a disgrace.

Newsweak, indeed, no wonder you are going out of business.

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PALISRA is the only feasible and lasting solution for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.Both parties have been fighting and killing each other for more than 60 years now and unfortunately, no light could be seen at the end of this dark tunnel.
The geography and demography of the area that extends between River Jordan and the Mediterranean indicate the complexity of the current situation. Every party is trying hard to grab by mere force what is in the hand of the other. Many wars have been waged and thousands of innocent lives have been shed for this purpose.
Nowadays, almost everybody is talking about setting up two countries for both Israelis and Palestinians. This simply means that the land of historical Palestine will be divided between the two parties, Israelis and Palestinians.
I doubt very much that either party will be satisfied with his share of the cake. There are chronic problems like Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, water resources that nobody on earth can sort out to the satisfaction of both parties.
The short vision of setting up two separate states could sow the seeds for more bloody conflicts in the future. Nobody can guarantee or secure permanent and lasting peace under this proposition.
A far better viable solution that should satisfy both parties and put an end to all complicated issues is available. It is the establishment of one secular country for all on the whole territory of historical Palestine that includes the West Bank and Gaza besides Israel. Jerusalem will remain united for both parties, settlements could remain where they are now provided an appropriate compensation is made to the original land owners, natural geographical borders are already in place for the whole country and the issue of refugees could be settled by allowing all refugees to return home and to be compensated for the 60 years of misery they had to spend at refugee camps. All citizens of the new state, PALISRA (Palestine +Israel), would enjoy equal rights and bear the same responsibilities.
The newly established state, PALISRA will emerge as a prosperous and safe country within a very short period of time, and citizens of this state will learn how to tolerate,respect and even cherish each other. PALISRA will become a key player and an integral part of the Middle East as yesterday's enemies will become today's friends and allies for ever.

The jewish were granted the right to have their state by a Western Power in the same territory from which a an older western powers expell them.
They were and are not enemies of the Arabs or Muslims. Many arabs still live in israel to this day.
It was the Arabs who made the Israelis their worst enemies.
We all know how Jordan took away land from the Palestinians, Same for Egypt. And Siria also took land from Lebanon.

You can take the Israelis out of it and the Arabs will find, the very next day, someone else to blame for their poverty and social problems.

I can imagine a middle-east without Israel. Sunnis and Chiites killing each other. Iran invading Iraq or Siria, Egypt declaring war on Sudan, and so on.

There are many history books and you all can read them and find out for yourselves.

I don't know why the jewish people were granted a right to proclaim a jewish state amidst their adversaries. Could not be just because they asked for it...

I do know that you can claim a right, but you cannot claim recognition. That something you have to earn.

I agree with the person who replied to Tatiana

Jews exists everywhere, but they exist as equals with equal rights in the country they live in. However, a state built strictly on Religion, such as the state of Israel, this biased. I challenge anyone who can bring me an example of a smimilar country in the world. Most countries are labled as Christian, Muslim, etc,,, based on the majority of population, however, in those countries, many people from a minority group make it to a high ranking positions in the government, In Israel the concept is different. The existance of Israel is based on everyone in Israel should be Jewish. If you are a christian or a muslim, you don't have the same rights and you should be humilated and isolated. People confuse the feelings of Arabs. Arabs don't hate jews, but they hate Zionism!
One thing that surprises me, Israelis till today still speak of the Holocaust, and it is their right, what happend was unhuman, HOWEVER, they are commiting much worse crimes. They come and occupy lands from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, they abuse palestinians in every way possible. Kill children and women, they are the country who has the most violations of UN laws and human rights. They used banned weapons as part of their aggression. This is all recorded in history, anyone can do a small research. After all of this, they clame they want to live in peace.

A fact, Israel have a plan, their plan started in 1948. Part of their plan was to destroy Lebanon. Everything is planned LONG TIME AGO.

Part of the reason the bloodshed in the Middle East continues is the refusal of educated Americans and intellectuals here to accept the truth and to listen to moderate voices in the Middle East and to continue to cover up Israeli crimes. Dr. Moubayed's article represents a very moderate and simple statement of fact. It would behoove people here to listen to what people like him have to say and find out the truth for themselves rather than repeating the same racist discourse repeated by the Bush mafia.

The problem goes back to the begining of israel, it should never have been allowed to exist in the palestinians country. The jews are a religeon not a race and had no more need of a homeland than protestants catholics hindhu,s or budists they originate in arabia yes, in fact they are westernised arabs in the same light as afro-americans,they are not looking for any where in africa to settle. Arabia would be a better place without them

The Shebaa farms must be a joke!
In 1948, many in Israel felt that despite UN recognition, Israel "deserved" to control East Jerusalem and the West Bank, site of many Jewish holy sites, but home to many Palistinians. They were likely wrong and indisputably against international law, but the feelings were tremendously strong, especially for the militant groups that Ben Gurion disarmed.

Today, Hezbollah won't disarm because, despite UN recognition, they feel that Lebanon should control... a farm.

Plenty of countries have disputes about similarly miniscule and insignificant bits of land, and often these disputes gain emotional and nationalist significance which is similarly bewildering to outsiders. But somehow, these countries manage to not be over-run by militias. Examples: Dokdo/Takeshima island claimed by Korea and Japan; the Spratly islands claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippenes, Malaysia and Brunei; Machias Seal Island claimed by the US and Canada. Even Syria manages to avoid being over-run by rogue militias despite the far more provocative Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights.

Its just insulting to blame the death and destruction of Lebanon on a few farms.

Several of the writers claim to believe that Hizbollah's position that continued hostilities are warranted because the Israeli's still occupy Shebaa Farms is disingenuous. Would the United States feel that continued hostilities were warranted if a foreign power, after otherwise retreating from U.S. territory, continued to occupy Rhode Island? while Rosenblum claims Shebaa Farms is "miniscule", proportionately it is far larger for Lebanon than Rhode Island is for the united states. Remember from American history "fifty-four forty of fight"?

This is for Tatiana,

Historical facts: The Jews were protected and respected in the Islamic world for centureis. When the Inquisition happened in Spain, they fled to Arab countries where alot of them continue to live to this day. There are today Arab Jews living in Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen and many others. So the barb about the Arabs continuing to attack Jews for posterity's sake is uniformed at best and vile at worst.

If one knows their history, they would easily see that the Arabs had no problem and continue to have no problems with Jews. The Arab world has a problem with the Zionests after 1948

Referring to the posting by Michael Rosenblum.

No matter how much you try to conceal in words or contort the history the fact remains that Israel was, and still is an aggressor. I wonder your judgment when you claim that "Israel withdrew to the Internationally recognizeed border, so there was and is no territory being occupied by Israel". I speculate if your history starts from 1982 onwards.

History can not be altered by such weak illusions and this has been proven thoroughly time and again.

Mr. Moubayed, makes a good point about the groups that founded Israel. They too were considered terrorists in their day. One of the most notorious was Menachem Begin who the British had a price on.
The terible Irony here is that Israel is to some extent justified in their military response. I am not speaking of their barbaric bombardment of Lebanon but rather their excercise of their right to self defence.

But because they act without regard to others in the region, such as overflight of Lebanon, witholding of information on where they laid land mines in Lebanon, refusal to hand over SHeba fams. The absolute humilation that they bring on the Palestinians,to name just a few, that their response to Hizbullah kidnapping is just another reason to blow up some more Arabs.

Nothing happens in the Middle East without reason. Hizbullah exists because ISrael invaded Lebanon back in 1978, and Hizbullah was created to defend Lebanese sovereignty. And they were effective. The reason they continue to exist is because Israel is not a very nice neighbor.

As to the Islamic fascists, they would disppear overnight, if Isreal were to treat their neighbors with respect. Then the moderates would be able to show peace, and then prosperity would come.

It is the hardliners in Israel and in the Arab world who would rather have war then peace.

Fact. Israel has not provide

Well said, Zathras. Bravo. Hamas, Hizbollah and their like seem to focus on ever changing Israeli offenses, of which they want to be considered the victims. I doubt that they could ever consider themselves victors, no matter what happened. I imagine that if Israel were "wiped off the map" as they want, they would continue attacking Jews, and they would continue feeling comfortable in their own victimhood.

This is in reply to Peace in the Middle East.

The ignorance I was talking about refers to the ignorance of the honorable average American who does not get correct representation of the facts as the media in the US is, well, to be charitable, know what they can report on and in what hue without angering their paymasters. I was not talking to the apologists of the barbaric Israeli regime. You know who they are: the ones who are always saying the Israelis can do no wrong. Why do you think the image of Israel is much clearer to the European people: Are they all anti-Semites or are they just more informed.

The writer mentions that the Palestinians leaders who are assassinated by the Israeli SS deserve what they get because they fight back. How does one fight against a monstrous, immoral army who is armed to the teeth and kills many more innocents along with their intended targets. If we use this logic, then the French Resistance to the Nazi's were terrorists; the American Revolution was run and manned by terrorists; Patrick Henry was a terrorist.

And please don't pull that old excuse for plain murder by saying that it is the Palestinians fault for LIVING, if you could call it that, next to the intended target. The whole of occupied Palestinian territory is a big open air prison that the Israeli Offense Forces control utterly and use daily for target practice - shooting fish in a tank. It seems that even this is now becoming too sporty and the Israelis want to make even easier by segmenting the fish tank to smaller pieces for easier killings.

Israel is probably the first country in the world where terrorist gangs and their leaders became the political leadership on the world stage. Before you start salivating, erode some of the ignorance by reading about Menahim Begin, Yizhak Shamir, the Stern Gang, the Irgun and Haganah. Read about the terrorist bombing of the David Hotel in Jerusalem, the Allon affair in Egypt and many more than could fit here.

A yet further remedy for the eradication of ignorance, read about Ben Gurion and his ethnic cleansing policies and orders at the inception of this malignant entity called Israel. A good starting point would be reading a book by Israel's most famous historian Benny Morris: The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem. Morris documented atrocities on the part of the Israeli armed forces, including cases of rape, torture, and ethnic cleansing..

So instead of chiding me of the use of Ignorance in my name, I'll do you one better and wish that you truly aspire to the Peace in yours...

To, defeat islamofascists:

In the Koran It reads: fight those who fight you and never be the transgressor.
Islam is a universal religion it has adherents from almost every ethinic and racial and linguistic group from all over. It is probably the worlds most diverse religion. You will be amazed how many different nations and nationalities it embraces. It is also amazing that they all follow one book the Koran.
It is indeed worth a thought why should it have billions of such devoted followers the vast majority 80% of whom are non-arabs. It is also the worlds fastest growing religion.
Remember USA represents only 5% of the worlds population.
The other 95% is accross the pond. I suspect you may have had a very narrow exposure in your life to diversity. The world is a rich tapestery of many nations and religions and we should not be disrespectful of others.
My defination of a terrorist is one who doesnot respect his opponent.
I would invite the readers to suggest a defination of a Terrorist since the UN has failed to do so.
No wonder thats when someone said :one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. Indeed it is true.

This comment is a reply to Enough Ignorance.

Definition: Invade - To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage.

Point 1: How could the KIDNAPPED soldier be invading Lebanon when he was "captured" on the Israeli side of the border?

Point 2: People who lead by violence, usually end up dead by violence. If that's what you call leadership, then that's the kind of leadership you deserve.

Point 3: If Ben Gurion committed ethnic cleansing (which I am NOT conceding), what is the goal of Hezbollah and Hamas? What is the goal of Iran when its "leader" calls for Israel to be wiped off the map?

Finally, I'm glad you used "ignorance" in your handle, because you are a very good representation of the word.

Are not Hezbollah and Hamas the same toward Israel as Al Queda is to the U.S.? No one is advocating negotiating an U.S./Al Queda ceasefire, and no one should advocate negotiating an Israel/Hezbollah or Hamas ceasefire. Terrorist organizations are not to be negotiated with.

I find Mr Moubayed's thoughts to be interesting and moderate. He seems to genuinely want peace. At the same time, I think he is being unrealistic in suggesting that Israel try and marginalize Hamas and Hezbollah by being moderate. There is zero moderation in their stances. Here is what Nasrallah said on April 9, 2000:

"The Jews invented the
legend of the Nazi atrocities. Anyone who reads the Koran and the holy writings of the monotheistic religions sees what they did to the prophets, and what acts of madness and slaughter the Jews carried out throughout history... Anyone who reads these texts cannot think of co-existence with them, of peace with them,
or about accepting their presence, not only in Palestine of 1948 but even in a small village in Palestine, because they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment."

So, I ask the moderate Arabs, the Hezbollahn apologists in the West, and those who decry "disproporiate response", how can Israel be expected to deal with those who are completely dedicated to killing every last one of them?

The middle east problems stem from arab begrudgement of the creation of the State of Israel. TNotwithstanding the horrors of the holocaust, the arabs objected to the Jews having their own nation on territory as ancestral to them as to the arabs, and unlike the Jews, rejected a two-state solution from day one. There remain too many arabs who will not accept the existence of a Jewish state and even if a separate Palestinean state is created, I fear Israel will still be targeted for destruction by many arabs, whether the targeting is by an arab state or by an arab militia like Hezbollah or Hamas.

Hammas and Hizbula will not fade away and will hardly be be coopeted by the moderates, even if Israel will do what it is suggested. Thir ideology and aims go far beyond the local conflict, and are supported by agents that strive to disrupt any type of political settlement However, despite what I have mentioned, the thesis sustained by this article is rational. In theory, this thesis sounds logical. Lets strenght abu Mazen, lets end occupation, and the voices of moderation will prevail in Palestine and else. Although it is not clear to me that this may happen, the paradox is that the policy recommended by this article is the only possible one. It is risky but it is simple the only logical policy. The current circle of violence leads to growing violence, and it is not clear that Israel in the long run will prevail

Do we really think for a minute that America and Israel can negotiate in good faith with people who would promptly slice our throats given the chance? I do not see Hezbollah dropping leaflets in Israel warning citizens of an imminent barrage of rockets. Have you heard of any Israeli suicide bombers? Mr. Moubayed appears naive.

It boggles the mind that people are still debating the fact of who is at fault here. The fact remains for those who are living on this planet and not in some fantasy world is that Israel brings all of this on itself. The CAPTURE of an inavding enemy soldier was because the Israelis continued to hammer that open air prison with assasinations of anyone who could resemble a leader. Even a cornered cat will lash out. Same with Lebanon. Some people like to forget that about two months ago, Israel assasinated a Shia leader by hitting his car with a rocket. Israel does not want peace. It is terrified of it because the world will pressure it to give back what it stole both in terms of land and blood. And I especially like the comment about not comparing Ben Gurion to Lebanese politicians. I agree, the Lebanese politicians are not ethnic cleansing statesman...

There is no one that wants Peace in Israel except the Israeli's. If the Palestinians and all of the militant groups in the region laid down their arms, there would be peace. If Israel laid down her arms, there would be another Holocaust.

The view presented here of Hamas and Hezbollah is, to be charitable, exceptionally optimistic. It is not widely believed in Israel or the United States and I doubt very much that it has many genuine adherents in the Middle East outside of Israel either.

The more common belief is that the Shaba Farms question is for Hezbollah a mere pretext. The way for Hezbollah to convert from a terrorist group to a domestic political party focused on the needs of its mostly Shiite constituency has been open for some time, and the appearance is that this is something its leadership does not want -- not at least if it means giving up the cachet that comes with an international reputation or the Iranian subsidies that support that reputation.

Hamas is a different organization, in a different situation. But the suicide bombings that have long been its weapons of choice are the weapons of savages, and so far from appearing to seek dialog with the Israelis Hamas has insisted on a policy of nonrecognition. So the idea that its instransigence requires Israeli concessions is one that will not easily gain traction within Israel.

As so often in the past I fear demands for Israeli concessions risk becoming for Arabs in the region a substitute for confronting their own problems. Hezbollah and Hamas are two of the biggest of these, the former an outpost of Iranian policy out of the control of the nominal government of Lebanon, the latter a movement elected to fight corruption and establish effective government in the occupied territories that has not shown the nerve required to do either. There will never be a shortage of clever arguments coming out of the Middle East, but those far from matching the facts lose their appeal on close examination.

Clearly the past is the past. Neither side can change it. But in this day and age of diplomacy, there is great virtue to a measured response. Hezbollah sending rockets into Israel's civilian areas is unconscionable. Likewise, Israel annihilating Lebanon's infrastructure affecting not just Hezbollah but their diverse populous as well is barbaric. A civilized nation wouldn't respond the way these two adversaries do. An appropriate measured response: diplomacy. But first they must cease fire. Unfortunately I don't think neither side is capable of doing something so civilized.

Mr. Moubayed comments blaming Israel for the situation in Lebanon are absurd. Israel withdrew to the Internationally recognized border, so there was and is no territory being occupied by Israel. Syria while giving lip service supporting Lebanon's claims to the miniscule Sheba Farms has not proceeded to abandon (cede) the land to Lebanon. As for the Lebanese prisoners, first there are only a few and second, at least one of those held murdered an innocent family inside their home in Israel and under international law is not a POW, but a common murderer. Finally, Lebanon never offered to reign in Hezballah and secure the border if the "prisoners" were released. Simply, the prisoner and Shebba Farm issues were used as a canard to attack Israel. Don't compare Lebanese politicians to Ben Gurion, that is an insult to a great leader.