Zuckerman: Palestinians Start to Show Progress

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I this the same chimera that has drifted around the Middle East since 600 A.D.?
Islam lives, and conquers by the bloody scimitar - always has, always will. When will the West wake up? Probably never, for we have no sense of history, or for that matter, reality.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 11:04AM November 23, 2009

Dear Mr. Zuckerman:
Your essay is well-intentioned and hopelessly optimistic. Peace is the absence of Arabs. You can have peace or Arabs, you can't have both. Ask them down in Fort Hood. The Palestinians don't want peace, they want Israel. In fact, they already have a country. It's name is Jordan. That's where they should go. Sixty-five percent of its population is Palestinian. If that isn't a Palestinian state, then what is? The only reason Jordan is at peace with Israel is that a) they've had their behinds handed to them again and again, b) there's a defensible border (the Jordan River) and c) Abdullah's Bedouins keep the Palestinians under control the only way that works. (See Black September 1970.)

Stephen J. Makler of NJ 7:28PM November 22, 2009

The Obama group will leave Israel to defend for its self if the Palesinisans with the help of the Muslim world go to all out war. the Palesinisans (Muslim). are backed by Iran and all the Muslim world. the main concern of the Palesinisans is the complete removeal of Israel. they have the same intentions as Iran. i think just like when the Japanese invaded china before anyone else got involed in the war, other people from other countrys came to their aid. i think many, many people will go to Israels aid even if obama does not !!!!!!!!

jerr of LA 4:39PM November 19, 2009

Actually the Goldstone Report criticized both the Palestinians and the Israelis for the actions in Gaza. It was the Israelis who attacked first in the 1967 war because they feared they would be attacked. The Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 offered Israel a formal end to the conflict and full recognition by all Arab nations. It was rejected by Israel (perhaps because it called for a just solution to the refugee problem and a withdrawal from all lands captured in the 1967 war including withdrawal from the Golan Heights and from South Lebanon).
There is enough blame to go around on both sides but I think the world really screwed up 60 years ago when the UN decided that there should be 2 independent states, Israel and Palestine. Israel should not have formed without the formation of a Palestinian state.
Israel was formed by unilateral declaration and subsequent recognition. The Palestinians are still waiting and yet when they recently approached the UN about a unilateral declartion of statehood, they were rebuffed. Israel said it would not be productive. How ironic. Actually about 100 nations have recognized the country of Palestine. (Type that question into Google).
60 years is a long time to negotiate. If OPEC stated that they would cut off the flow of oil in 6 months if an independent Palestine did not exist by then, this problem would be solved tomorrow. Think about that scenario.

Dennis Riecke of MS 8:36PM November 18, 2009