The question is:

What's the first thing Tony Blair should do if he wants to make progress as the Quartet's Mideast peace envoy? ("Quit" is not an acceptable answer.)

Since Britain started this whole mess with the Balfour Declaration in 1917, this is a singularly appropriate question.

From another thread:

RICK says:
Zuni,

You say: ‘There never was a legitimate state of Palestine.’

I say: True, but following WWI, there was a British Mandate of Palestine that included Palestine and Transjordan, in which Palestine occupied the region now occupied by the illegitimate ‘State of Israel’, the West Bank and Gaza.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You say: ‘What in the hell is illegal and immoral about the Balfour declaration and Jewish, nee Zionist immigration?

I say: From Wikipedia ‘The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated November 2, 1917) was a classified formal statement of policy by the British government on the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the World War I.

The letter stated the position, agreed at a British Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917, that the British government supported Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, with the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities there.

So the result was the forceful injection by the Crusaders, of the Zionist Jews, who had been expelled from the region 2000 years ago; they could not coexist in peace with the native population. They had invaded and occupied this region following their great escape from slavery in Egypt; they had a Holier than Thou attitude, and claimed to be God’s chosen people.

Who would have thought that such a Zionist immigration could ever satisfy: ‘the condition that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing communities’ of Palestine?

The British soon recognized the folly of this policy and attempted to halt the Zionist immigration. They were attacked by a group named Irgun (some call it Etzel), established by the Right-Wing of the Zionist Movement in Palestine and the violent wing of the Zionist movement. The most well-known of these attacks was the King David Hotel bombing which occurred on July 22, 1946. This was a well-planned act engineered by the Irgun's Leader and future Prime Minster, Menachem Begin.

So the Balfour Declaration, and resulting Zionist immigration, was a terrible mistake. The British tried and failed to reverse this terrible decision.

Repercussions of this heinous crime are behind all turmoil and bloodshed in the Middle East including Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian occupied territories, Syria, Iran etc.

The whole world will never see peace as long as the crime of the 20th century is not corrected.

why is there no palestinian voice on this forum?

by the logic of mr graham, the many jewish people who are anti-zionist would be considered anti-semitic.
the way to get around this oxymoron is to miscahracterize their jewish brethern as self-hating jews.

it is the same propoganda we were fed when any with a moral compass and a conscience questioned the united states war in iraq as anti-american.

does that make me a self-hating american?

no, it does not. i love me.(i literally just kissed my own hand.)

the UN declared in 1974 that zionism=racism.

zionism is not a religious movement based on tanak as no one has been able to justify it through this perspective. ( i welcome the effort)

it is either
1) a relgiously based movement

2) a political movement formed by atheists

if it is 1) religiously motivated, then people should have no problem justifying it from a religious perspective that is satisfying to jewish people of faith

this has not been done in 60 years

if it is a political movement it should be treated as such and not obscured by confusing references to it's religiosity when unconfortable questions about its unethical implementation are raised.

This is a great article. Right on. Israel is not the problem; Israel is the solution.

There is a poster named "MIKE" who makes a convoluted claim that anti-zionism is not anti-semitism. He also makes a snotty remark about Martin Luther King being ignorant when Dr. King equated anti-zionism with anti-semitism.

Let's keep this simple. The Jews have a right to a Jewish state, named Israel, just as the Arabs have a right to their 20+ states. The Jews are not going to sacrifice their one state for the creation of yet another Arab state that wants to destroy that one Jewish state.

As to Martin Luther King, he had the equation right: anti-zionism = anti-semitism. I would rather stand with him, Winston Churchill, William O. Douglas, and Albert Einstein. You sir, and your ilk, can stand with Palestinian heroes like (1) Sirhan Sirhan, (2) those bedfellows of Hitler -- the Palestinian Arab leadership that lived in Berlin -- who helped direct attacks against our allied forces in North Africa and the Balkans, and (3) the creators of Farfur. Sir, you are a bigot with your remarks about Jews and ignorant blacks, albeit a well-read one like David Irving.

WE need to Build a Gigantic "Hindu" Temple &a gigantic "Buddha" temple in JERUSALEM!

All chroinc problems in the Middle East being in Lebanon, Afganistan, Iraq or Palestine are generated by one malicious power house named Israel. The unlimited support of the US to Israel from 1948 till now ,and the illegal creation of Israel on the ruins of Palestine, has led to unmatched state of disappointment and despair in the Middle East, which in turn has led to the creation of terrorist groups who are ready to sacrifice their own bodies in a holy war agianst Israel and US interests, not only in the Middle East but all over the world.
What do we expect from a palestinian refugee who has been deprived of all his belongings and thrown out of his country to live in a refugee camp for more than 60 years now.
The war in Iraq is nothing but an Israeli war unfortunately fought with US blood and US taxpayer's money.It is time for the US admin to wake up to the real cause of all problems in the area and to change its foreign policy categorically.

Make the Arabs in Gaza an offer they cant refuse.

Money- and a place where they can live happily
with their camels, wives and kids.

Money makes the world go round.

Make the Arabs in Gaza an offer they cant refuse.

Money- and a place where they can live happily
with their camels, wives and kids.

Money makes the world go round.

Make the Arabs in Gaza an offer they cant refuse.

Money- and a place where they can live happily
with their camels, wives and kids.

Money makes the world go round.

Mohammad is the greatest man ever born.
The most successful the most influencial.
The most praised and revered. Five times a day over a billion people belonging to different nationality and ethinic and linguistic pray invoking the monotheism of Islam.
This is worship of one God in its most pristine interpretation. Muslims fast for a month and perform pilgrimage to Mecca (Kaaba built by Ismael and Abba al Ibrahim, the beloved of Allah).
It is the religion of Ibrahim and Musa,it is the religion of Dawood and Issa.
A universal religion indeed.
Also the worlds fastest growing.
Lord be praised, the most merciful the most kind.
Thee alone we worship and ask for help,
Lead us to the right path,
Not the path of those who are misguided and those who went astray (will include the muslims too).

Palestinian Jews and the antisemitism in antizionism.

Mike, thanks for your post. Previously to 1950 the Jerusalem Post (a Zionist newspaper) was called the Palestine Post. Before Israel came into being a Jew from Palestine was a Palestinian Jew, there were Palestinian Arabs, Christians, Bedouins. During the Ottoman empire and in ages before that there were no nations in the area, just peoples and religions. The collapse and colonization of the Arab world created borders where none really existed before (since the internal borders within the Ottoman empire were mostly administrative and vaguely defined). Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian nationalism are fairly recent because the very idea of an Arab country independent from the affairs of the Arab world as a whole is a fairly recent development (except in Egypt).

Palestinian Arabs deserve full respect for their human rights and everything that goes with it. But disrespect of Jews, antisemitism, is what is at the core of the foundation of Israel. In the first half of the previous century almost 1 million Jews lived in the area of the Ottoman empire and Iran; nowadays outside Israel only 50.000 remain. In the 1948 war, Israel was attacked by the newly formed Arab states, who were defeated, who suddenly had to cope with 650.000 Arab Palestinian refugees, who they locked up in camps at Israel's borders, while they pushed Jewish citizens (some 800.000) out of their countries, who were welcomed into Israel (some 650.000) and France (some 150.000). The dire situation of the Palestinians today is a consequence of Arab nations being unable to accept responsibility for their role in history, for their inability to provide a home for their fellow Arabs (what with all the abandoned Jewish ones being available), and for their inability to accept the Jewish people as a genuine part of their heritage.

Zionism is what protects the Jews from pogroms, the return to Israel also was a genuine aspiration of a sizeable minority of the former inhabitants of the Ottoman empire, this wish for a country of their own as genuine as that of the Kurds. They are entitled to a piece of that former empire as much as any other people is. The fact that many Jews fled Europe for Israel after the atrocities of world war two doesn't turn Israel into a western colony; it is also a genuine Arab country and Ottoman successor state.

The Red army killed at least one million German civilians in their drive to push them out of Eastern Europe and out of Eastern Prussia. At least 15 million people were put on the move towards what is nowadays Germany. They weren't warmly welcomed but also they weren't put in camps where 60 years later they would still live and believe in a return; listening to people who tell them that one day they will push the Polish into the sea and reclaim their land.

Any U.S. war to overthrow Iran's enemies — the Taliban in Kabul, Saddam and his Sunni Baathists in Baghdad — cannot but result in making Iran more dominant in the Gulf when the Americans depart. By eliminating the counterweight to Iranian domination, we guaranteed that either we become that counterweight, or there is none.

As for preventing a loss of U.S. credibility in the region and the world, it is a little late for that. Bin Laden said Americans are weaker than Russians. They will not take the casualties. Was he wrong?

In his assessment of the Iraqi government, the cracking U.S. Army and the dwindling American will to sustain this war, Lugar is right. But no energetic diplomacy is going to save for this country what the best army in the world fighting four years could not hold.

The self-deceptions must end. When we draw down and pull out U.S. forces, the odds will rise steadily that this war ends as did the one in Southeast Asia — with our friends slaughtered and our enemies triumphant. We may all hope not, but hope is a virtue, not a policy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20070629/cm_uc_crpbux/op_333163

1///The problem is that "israel" never ever recognized the existence of the indigenous owners of Palestine, the Palestinian people.Golda Meir once said "What Palestinians?"
2// Israel never implemented a single UN resolution since its anomalous and questionable creation including 181 which created it-by devouring large chunks of the would be Palestine state in 1947.
3/// Jewish terrorist gangs such as Haganah, Stern and Irgun used extreme violence to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and destroyed over five hundred Palestinians villages to prevent their return as per UN 194-which 60 years later Israel still refuses to implement.
4// No land or resources left whatsoever for a Palestinian state: Israel occupied 78%of Arab historic Palestine in 1947/8 and 22% (West Bank, Gaza and most importantly Jerusalem which was built by the Canaanite Arabs long before there ever were jews on earth) in 1967s AND it annexed over 50% of the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem-leaving 10% of original Arab historic Palestine for a Palestinian state???
5/// Clearly there is only solution: One secular democratic state -like the US-for all Arabs and Jews to replace the racist militaristic Apartheid present exclusively jewish militaristic theocracy.
6/// Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and others were created in response to the extremely length 60-year brutal israeli military occupation; Hezbollah was created in response to Israeli occupation of Lebanon from 1982 to 2000 when Israel was forced to withdraw.
7///The issue is simple and clear: chronic brutal inhuman miltary Jewish Occupation of all of Arab Palestine for sixty years which have and continues to torment Palestinians and drive them to despair...
8/// Cheap recycled propaganda such as “why don't Saudi Arabia and Syria talk to the jewish state” is insulting to any one who reads it: the writer wants Arab leaders to come the occupied Arab and Islamic Holy city of Jerusalem to talk to the occupiers and give hem legitimacy-what a sickening proposal is this.

As a person whom I think who is neither a "friend" of either "Israelis" of "Palestinians" (historically genotypically more related than either one of them to, say, ME from 8,000 miles away), NOR AN "ENEMY", I don't understand these gibberish "arguments" both sides are making: ---

That the "OTHER" SIDE is "bent on killing all of us".

Seriously, are you folks MENTALLY okay?

The FACT is this: BOTH groups are trying to TAKE AS MUCH as they can, in terms of the scarce natural resources there is....: land, water, space, etc.

BOTH sides are willing and able to use violence to achieve those desires.

The ONLY DIFFERENCE, the only FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE, is this:

Israel, at this juncture in history, happens to have the upper-hand in terms of EDUCATION and thus they are able to either build or buy 21st century's most advance weaponry systems, from stealth equivalent aircrafts to ICBM equivalent missiles..... and they can strike more or less ANY WHERE in the world as they want; and, therefore, the Middle East is now-dominantly their jurisdiction in terms of having the wherewithal to win any and all catastrophic engagements...

Dipping a toe into the hot sand of Lebonon and suffering a few hundred Israeli soldiers and having the PM being questioned.... it was a burb with bad breath, 'tis all.

Israel is capable of wiping out, incinerating, as much of the Middle East as it wants, if IT SHOULD COME TO THAT! Don't doubt it....

On the other hand, if the Arabs and in particular if the Palestinians also get themselves educated and --- with the money, know how, what-not --- acquire or build ICBM equivalent missiles, Bradley equivalent tanks, and stealth equivalent fying aricrafts...... PALESTIANIANS and other groups, TOO, WOULD STOP USING suicidal "terrorist" individuals as one of their few CREDIBLE weaponry delivery systems. (One of the other few credible and therefore scary to those who whant to put them under their boots, is, of course, "crude, 1930-styled roadside mine set-ups...)

These gibberish nonsensical arguments that ONE SIDE or THE OTHER are inhumane and, thefore, they are just behaving like their truth nature, in their resort to "inhumane" acts in planning and carring out killing assignments [to their enemies].... This is all nothing but ONE-SIDED gibberish nonsense.

... Such nonsense are VALID only to the local perspective, the local group, making thier local argument.... from a BROAD PERSPECTIVE, it's total nonsense. It's gibberish...

Last surprising FACT:

In addition to the fact that we as humans can be very loving and that we all cry and feel pain and sorrow --- I am willing to bet those Arabs who blow themselves up have wives, husbands, children whom they love and who love them in return, just like those Israelis they are out to kill ---- we are ALSO incredibly violent and, when we find ourselves under a certain circumstances, we must marshal whatever beliefs that would sustain us in our fight for survivial, which can be defined as narrowly as merely retaining our small villages or as widely as conquering another country and people, "so that they will never threat us again," etc., ad nauseam.....

People really do need get back to elementary thinking and stop talking nonsense, stop using vicious circular arguments about THE OTHERS, THE EVIL ONES, are always trying to kill us, we, who are the good ones, the free ones, the victims,,,, and they are jealous of, a jealousy that has turned to hate for them, and so they are always after us, because we are good and they are bad and are never satisfied with what they have, even after we left them all kinds of resources, etc., etc., etc.

Such are total gibberish nonsensical, vicious, and circular arguments...

It's sad to see this conflict escalated to a degree that every one believes only in his justice, his God, and his truth. Even the socalled truthteller advocade tell a truth that is only truth to his own people.

The truth is nuke will soon be available to all nations and entities like Al Kaida. And the truth is that when those people who prepared to die to prove a point have a nuke in their hand, no Israel nor Palestine will exist.

That's the truth. So till that time, be prepared for your place in this world. Escape from that land near the Sea of Death.

When Hamas runs a TV show with a Disney-like Mickey Mouse being killed by an Israeli -- not only is that highly abusive to their children, it demonstrates the Hamas mindset that this is a war for generations. Sad, but can you draw another conclusion?

All chroinc problems in the Middle East being in Lebanon, Afganistan, Iraq or Palestine are generated by one malicious power house named Israel.
Unless the USA stop their unlimited support to Israel and adopt a categorically new and fair foreign policy in the Middle East, hatered and bloodshed will unfortunately continue to persist in the area.
The only beneficiary from th war in Iraq is AIPAC and Israel.In fact, it is nothing but an Israeli war fought with US blood and US taxpaer's money.

aaron (bat yam, israel), History is re-written all the time on forums like these. They want you to forget arabs rejecting statehood for those who call themselves Palestinians in 1947. They forget that a majority of those who call themselves Palestinian live and flourish in Jordan. They forget. But we will NEVER forget.

"The occupation" is just a code word for Israel's right to exist.

"End the occupation" is just a code work for ending the existence of the Zionist entity.

don't be bashful, don't pretend to link your desire to "end the occupation" to some sort of phony "peace process"

the "peace process" is bull-excrement. the other side is not interested in peace and has never been. Certainly not since 1947 when the UN partition plan was rejected by all arab governments and NGOs and certainly not since 586 BC when the temple of the jews in Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon. So who is occupying who in East Jerusalem, eh?

point yer qiblas somewhere else!

they made up for their benign beginning later, to say the least. To summarize: war, witch burning, slavery,colonialism, subjugation of women.

Saul Singer, people would rather believe a lie than the truth. Witness many of the anti Israel posts on these kind of forums. Isn't it patently absurd that there are those who would justify those who would blow up innocent children and women and THEN say they are doing service to God?! And yet THAT is exactly what those who would support anything and any one but Israel do. I'll be so glad when God comes back and shuts the mouths of those who hate and are indifferent to Israel. Who ever you are. Hear Oh Israel! Our God is One! And His return is soon, very soon.

Felix,

Yet again it is necessary to say that anti-zionism is not equal to anti-semitism. You are quite correct in saying that Zionism is an expression of Jewish nationalism and desire for a state. It is also correct to say that it is a very complex philosophy that cannot be simplified into a single idea. However, to acknowledge all of this does not necessitate acknowleging the inherent right of the Jewish people to a state, especially at the expense of another people.

Jews do have the same right that all other people have to aspire to their own state. However, if the Jewish people have this right it must also be acknowledged that the Palestinians have the same right. To say that one has rights over the other is absurd, both peoples must find a way to either acknowledge the others needs and live in peace or they must give up some of their own aspirations to form a joint nation.

However, national aspirations don't give anyone a right to a state and to acknowledge this is not racist. For me to say that the Kurds don't have an inherent right to a state does not imply that I hold Kurds to be less "human" than other people. To say that Jews don't have an inherent right to a state in Israel at the expense of other peoples is not anti-semitism.

I, along with many other anti-zionists, have no problem with theoretical zionism. The problem is zionism as it has been practiced and turned into a reality in Israel. There it is racialized and used to justify one people's rights over the rights of another people. This is what makes zionism in its modern form objectionable.

Finding a resolution to the Israeli Palestinian-Israeli conflict that both Israeli and Palestinians can live with will be difficult and it is important that discussion and debate about how to do this remain free and open. The labeling of all critics of zionist ideals as "Anti-Semites" shuts down debate and helps nobody. Lets allow for a little more thought.

How can anybody with a straight face believe that there could be one country for both peoples. My God Hamas just finished killing 200 of their fellow brothers for not hating Isreal enough!
The Crime of the Century! Are you not embarrassed to be associated with such a moron?

PALISRA could be the magic word for settlement.
It is a sad situation that both Israelis and Palestinians 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 staged 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 respect and even cherish each other. PALIRA 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 whole world will never see peace as long as the crime of the 20th century is not handled adequately.The legitimate state of Palestine was removed from the world map to be replaced by the illegitimate state of Israel with new immigrants from all over the world.Palestinians,being moslems or christians,were kicked out into refugee camps to be replaced by jews from Europe,Russia,Ethiopia etc.
Repercussions of this heinous crime are behind all turmoil and bloodshed in the Middle East including Iraq,Lebanon,Palestinian occupied territories,Syria,Iran etc.
The unlimited support of US to Israel is encouraging the latter to reject all UN resolutions on the Palestinian Issue including Resolution 194 which calls for the return of all Palestinian refugees home.It is time for the US admin to wake up to the real cause of all problems in the area and to change its foreingn policy categorically.

Mr Singer, you have missed the reason why the past attempts at a Palestinian State have failed. They failed precisely because of what you said: "Israel unilaterally created one". Israeli and Palestinian security needs are not the same. Thus, a state created by Israel for Palestinians will not work because it does not satisfy the needs of Palestinians. That is why Arafat refused the "states" offered to him in 1993 and 2000. Mutual equality and respect would help pave the way, not gift giving.

650.000 Jews from Arab nations and Iran fled to Israel after the 1948 war. They now make up a very sizeable portion of Israel.

Zionism is Jewish Nationalism, it's not better or worse than any other people's aspiration to have their own nation with their own institutions.

Antizionism is antisemitism for the simple reason that any people should have the right to aspire to their own nation, to deny this of Jews is racist and anti Jewish racism is antisemitism.

I urge those that have an education and sincerely believe Israel is the problem to please research the history of the Jewish people, of the Ottoman Empire and of antisemitism (not just in Europe).

Do all you viscous Anti-Zionist/Anti-semites all crawl out of the same rock? Anyway I love the idea of making the country one big park. We can even have a Daniel Pearl game where all the Jews just get to put their head on the chopping block and get it chopped off. Then we have the Pali version of Mickey Mouse and blow up the rest of the Jews. After that we can turn on each other with honor killings, genital mutilation, woman and gay stoning should be a blast and lets not forget the newest gane throwing people off the 15th floor of hospitals. So much fun. Poor Palis never willing to ever take any responsibilty for the situation they are in. Who you want these people as your neighbors?

Ben Graham,

Are those of us who would consider ourselves anti-zionists to be labled anti-semites for opposing all forms of zionism or only particular forms of zionism? Which strain of zionism do you support? Are you a supporter of Pinsker or Herzl, Ahad Ha'am or Jabotinski, how about Buber? Do you know who these people are or what they thought? Is it a sign of my alleged "anti-semitism" that I can't stand Jabotinski, or is it legitimate to not agree with the philosophy of a man who most would consider racist and who was the inspiration for the beliefs of the Irgun and Stern Gang and who gave moral comfort to early Jewish "terrorists"?

With all respect given to Dr. King, he had not a clue what he was talking about. Even great men make mistakes. The statement that you quote does no more service to you or other supporters of zionism than the equation of zionism and racism does to anti-zionists. The incredible complexity of philisophical beliefs can't expressed in a sentance, and racism and anti-semitism can't be proven merely by looking at a persons support or lack thereof for a particular philosophical system.

Ben Graham

Used to be that those that hate the Jews were Anti-Semite, but now those that the Jews hate are Anti-Semite.

This is not a chicken and egg situation, we all know and recognize that occupation came first. When occupation ends (either via a two state solution or via one secular country one vole) then chaos will also end. Your crocodile tears are just a cover up for Israel's atrocity. You know as well as anyone that all the hating, killing and land grabbing (including water grabbing) is the Middle East is being done by Israel. The powerless and marginalized Palestinians are just fighting for their freedom.

Ben Graham

Used to be that those that hate the Jews were Anti-Semite, but now those that the Jews hate are Anti-Semite.

This is not a chicken and egg situation, we all know and recognize that occupation came first. When occupation ends (either via a two state solution or via one secular country one vole) then chaos will also end. Your crocodile tears are just a cover up for Israel's atrocity. You know as well as anyone that all the hating, killing and land grabbing (including water grabbing) is the Middle East is being done by Israel. The powerless and marginalized Palestinians are just fighting for their freedom.

Interesting suggestions for Tony Blair's focus as new Middle East peace negotiator.
A few skeptical reactions however:
1) For about 90 years most Arab states and non-state organizations have operated from a rejectionist position toward Israel's existence as a Jewish state. On the other hand, that same Jewish state wants to continue its existence.
2) If combatants have divergent goals and residual energy to fight, the conflict will continue...either until one side's goal is reach or until both are exhausted.
3) Neither has so far happened.
4) In the absence of #3, Western efforts - however noble and/or well-intentioned - can seem like parents' wishes that children stop fighting...they see the conflict as trivial or passing, and want an end to the noise.

BTW, see Edward Luttwak "It's time to ignore the Middle East" May 2007 in prospect-magazine.co.uk/printarticle.php?id=9302 5-07

What a load of reliably and predictably desparate rubbish,....... full of hate and self-congratulations......Mr. Singer, it is Israel that is targeting Palestinians with precise missiles and bombs. If you want a decent fight, let your opponent have the same weapon and may the best man win.

But it is the 21st Century and bullets are so-World War II kind of gimmick. Sovereign countries such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, even Micronesia, etc. have the absolute and sovereing right to recognise or not to recognise another fabricated country (that didn't exist 65 years ago....that is within living memory!)

Secondly, it is quite clear that Jews suffered in Europe, and Americans as cousins of Europeans came to their rescue. The simple question is: why should people in the Middle East pay for the crimes and mistakes of Europeans?

This post page has de-evolved into an anti-semites' paradise.

To all of you Israel haters out there, here are the words of Martin Luther King: "When you are talking anti-zionism, you are talking anti-semitism". Shame on you for your lies or distorted facts made to suit your horrid, bigoted agenda.

Your comments are worthy of your Palestinian heros like Sirhan Sirhan, Arafat who murdered our diplomats in the Sudan, and the Palestinian Arab leaders who supported Hitler in Berlin to try to defeat our allied forces during WWII. This is the company that you keep.

For others who are horrified with what has happened to this post page, then please "carry on" as the Brits say. Confront these bigots at every opportunity. Chase them. Harry them. Never quit in person or print. Remember, it was Churchill, a lover of freedom and an exemplar of courage, who said: "I am a Zionist!"

DKM says, speaking of Israel, "And it won't go well until they stop behaving like kids who have to share and don't want to." He's speaking of Israel and I agree, but it certainly describes Hamas and Hezbollah as well.

I hear ya, Joe N. Same goes for America I suppose? If you don't mind my asking, where do you live?

POSTGLOBAL RULES

"...you may not post content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that is otherwise inappropriate."

Washingtonpost, how about you just throw these rules out. Mr. Singer is being defamed and harassed and the antisemitism present in some of the responses violates the laws of at least 3 European nations. If you do not enforce your rules you merely mock their purpose.

Jewish population of the Arab world in 1947 (excluding Israel, Including Iran & turkey): approx 1 million.

Jewish population of the Arab world in 2007 (excluding Israel, Including Iran & turkey): approx 50.000.

The bulk of these 1 million Jews fled to Israel where they and their children now live.

The Ottoman empire had a population of approximately 2% Jews. Some people believe though that the state of Israel is illegitimate while the Muslim Arab states are not. A cursory reading of the history of the area over at least the last 100 years will show different; but those striving to delegitimize Israel would rather rewrite history and then repeat it.

Saul Singer should be the last person to lecture people about "truth-telling."

The rabbi Hillel said, "Do not do unto others what you would not want them to do to you. This is the whole of the Talmud. All the rest is commentary."

If that is the defining characteristic of being an observant Jew, then the Zionists have lost moral claim to being Jews. Remember that from the very beginning they had their eyes on the rest of the Palestinian land beyond what the UN had set up. That was one of the reasons they turned down a US offer to sign a mutual defense treaty because it would have defined Israel to its boundaries at the time. Now, like Bush and the neocons, they are playing out their dreams of conquest and it is not going well. And it won't go well until they stop behaving like kids who have to share and don't want to.

"What the job needs most now is not a mediator but a truth-teller."

Well, that leaves out Saul as a potential mediator. He would have you believe that Israel has supported a Palestinian state when in fact, when Arafat threatened to start one, they in turn threatened all out war.

I have no idea what he is talking about when he says that Israel constructed a Palestinian state in Gaza. What they did, after removing just civilians, was keep their army there with their ubiquitous control posts that forbade any Palestinian travel in Gaza. Then when a democratically elected government came into power, they did everything including kidnapping members of the government to destroy that state.

As an Oberlin and Cornell University graduate I have been thoroughly exposed to and admire much of Jewish culture (thanks also to Chaim Potok), but I have to say that Saul plays right into the negative stereotype of the Jew since before The Merchant of Venice.

This is silly. To say that the reason Palestinians don't have a state is their own fault assumes that Israel has been operating in good faith since 1967 - let alone since 1948. If Israel really wants peace, as opposed to land and water in the West Bank, it needs to agree to giving Palestinians ALL the land stolen in the six day war. That has never been offered by the Israelis or their American friends. This is what Arafat was willing to accept. Why is he portrayed as the bad guy? The current lack of intelligent dialog encourages fundamentalists (Islamic, Christian, Jewish) to continue agitating their flocks for war.

There are no civilians in Israel, only illegal land squatters.

Joe N: And what about Arab terrorists who rejoice at killing civilians? Is their kind ok with you?

T. Serpenti: Leave your slander of marijuana out of it.

Saul Singer says "The struggle for peace is no longer between Israelis and Palestinians. It is between the jihadi axis (Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Syria and Iran) that wants to block a Palestinian state at all costs; and the West, moderate Arabs and Israel, who want to resolve the Palestinian problem and the Arab-Israeli conflict." THE JIHADI AXIS THAT REJECTS PEACE INCLUDES MANY OR MOST ISRAELI SETTLERS IN THE WEST BANK AND THEIR SUPPORTERS. Israel within the Green Line is 78% of the land under dispute. How can Israel hope to have more of the land than that and have peace?

Israel has surrounded, invaded, and occupied the Palestinian Territories and are holding Palestinians under a cruel system of apartheid.

Deal with those facts first, and maybe progress will one day be made in the "Palestinian issue".

The only occupation is that being done by Egypt in the Sinai, that is Jewish land. The Arab and Persian Islamixc terrorists do not need a state. What is needed is for the people in those countries to stop preaching and supporting hatred, death and destruction and maybe then they will have peace. All the jew haters that populate this site just prove that the point that Islamists cannot be trusted with governance. So every time you jew haters show your venom and ignorance you are proving that people like you deserve exactly what you are preaching for others

Israel's tactic is always throwing crumbs to the Palestinians so that they can claim the moral high ground. While Ariel Sharon was so "graciously" giving Palestinians a state, he never did much to deal with the West Bank Settlement problem. After so many years, now Israel pretty much claim that it's impossible to remove all the settlements. The kind of delaying tactic to force a de facto solution down is no solution at all. Somehow the Palestinians are constantly getting the short end of the stick.

The Palestinians also need to be more pragmatic. They can continue to blame Israel or US for all their ills. But it's not clear how many of their brothers (i.e. Arab states) really care to help them. Yes, it is humiliating. But you cannot continue to kill each other. At least think about the possibility of raising your kids in a more sane environment.

I'm not condoning Israel or US. But this madness has to end.

Dissolve Isreal and Palestine. Turn it into a UN protectorate theme park for Abrahamic cultures, charge admission and keep religion and state separate. Like I tell my kids...if you can't play nicely together then I will just take it away. All the people living in that region can only claim possession based on the status of the dead before them. They are not entitled to reparations or land or squat. Seems that they only know how to disagree so screw THEM ALL. Give the land to the inuits and let them play with it.

Beautifully put argument, Mike. And all of it is true, too.

Mr. Singer, if your idea of a Palestinian state whether through Oslo, Camp David, or any other forum is the situation Israel left in Gaza after its unilateral withdrawal (which seems to be what you imply above) then the conventional wisdom you say needs to be reanalyzed remains true. Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Can you honestly call an isolated canton that does not have control over its water, borders, airspace, electricity, food supply, taxes, and foreign policy a state while keeping a straight face? The fact that Israel withdrew it's settlers from Gaza and pulled the IDF back to Gaza's borders does not make Gaza a "state". A true Palestinian State is one in which Palestinians are given free movement, control their own resources, borders, economy, and foreign policy, and are not subject to Israeli military invasion at any time. Israel has never offered this; Israel has never offered the Palestinians a "state".

Your and others attempts to build up a "jihdi axis" would also be laughable if so many people weren't buying into your drivel. Linking Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, and Al-Qaeda in the way that you want works about as well as Bush's linkage of North Korea with Iran.

First let’s look at the Al-Qaeda link to the other groups. Al-Qaeda and Iraq? Come on!! Iran, a Shiite state is hardly jumping up and down building up connections to the militantly Sunni organization that is opposed to the religious beliefs that Iran is founded upon. Likewise, the fiercely secular Syrian regime may be willing to support groups in Iraq and Lebanon that serve their interests and have linkages to Al-Qaeda, but it certainly isn't in bed with the organization. One of Al-Qaeda's explicit goals is to overthrow governments such as the Assad regime in Syria. In Lebanon the only thing that the opposition Hezbollah bloc and the ruling coalition can agree on is that Al-Qaeda inspired groups in the country need to be dealt with. Hamas also has not so far made official links with Al-Qaeda and has maintained a fiercely local focus.

If you get rid of Al-Qaeda the rest of your axis falls apart. Of course there are linkages between Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria. Each of these parties is in conflict with Israel and they each have their own reasons for maintaining that conflict. However, this is not some massive religious "jihadi" conspiracy but is a simple issue of land, power, and politics. Iran maintains influence and power in the Middle East by supporting the Palestinians in what Arabs see as a just struggle. Israel occupies Syrian land, so of course it has a finger in the pie. Hezbollah was built as a resistance organization to Israel's presence in Lebanon and continues to hold that Israel has not fully withdrawn from Lebanon (justified or not that's its position). Hamas of course has the most legitimate claim against Israel which is the occupying military power in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

There is not a need to switch over to talking with "moderate" Arabs about some kind of jihadi conspiracy against Israel. There is a need for Israelis like yourself to recognize that the continued occupation of the Palestinian Territories lies at the root of most of your conflicts. Stop ignoring the Palestinians and thinking that all that is needed is a bigger stick to hit them with; start treating them like humans. If you did so you might find that they responded like humans. Since this wasn't something that was tried even during the "peace process", you might be surprised at how much better it will work.

Whatever you think of the Palestinians at this point, it must be acknowledged that Israel is the party with power and the party that must take the first steps to achieve peace. If Israel follows your advice and continues to refuse to acknowledge the reality of its predicament I fear that the results within twenty years will either be an Israeli led campaign of ethnic cleansing/Genocide against the Palestinians or a single state in which Palestinians are the Majority and Israel is history.

Israel, the first of modern theocratic states? Israel and the Palestinians are in a death spiral with each group using injustice done against them to justify their unjust treatment of others. What a disaster the Zionist vision has become. Has it unleashed a death blossom of retrogressive theocratic government in the Middle East? Israel will never feel safe as long as she is a theocratic/ethnocentric state. Dennis Y Loh is right: "One person, one vote between the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Separation of Church and State. All men and women equal under law." Singer, what a kook. Only is Jerusalem.... President Carter stood up to Israel--quietly threatened to cut off the billions of US aid, and there was progress. Imagine that. Blare is Bush's butler, he lacks integrity and courage. You can bet he will only stand up to the weakest player at the table, i.e. the Palestinians!