Saudis welcome US report's accent on Palestinians (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Saudis welcome US report's accent on Palestinians
10 Dec 2006 16:15:44 GMT
Source: Reuters

RIYADH, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday welcomed a U.S. report
on foreign policy in the region for emphasising a need for more attention
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

-snip-

The bipartisan report compiled by the elite Iraq Study Group in Washington,
established to review U.S. policy in Iraq, highlighted the need to tackle the
historic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians seeking to establish
a state on land it has controlled since 1967.

"The issue of the Palestinians has poisoned the air," Prince Faisal told a
news conference after a meeting of the heads of Gulf Arab states in the
Saudi capital Riyadh.

-snip-

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have long argued that Washington's
priority in the region should be resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
but the administration of George W. Bush has in the past rejected that line
of argument.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10615375.htm

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[papau]

2. if they say they want to kill you, believe them.

what Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said about Israel:

“Israel no longer has a reason to exist, and will soon disappear”

Israel is doomed to be “wiped from the map” in a “war of destiny.”

Israel is “a disgraceful stain on the Islamic world” and “a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."

"Israel is a danger, but one that is about to come to an end."

"They have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it above God, religion and the prophets."

“Some Europeans countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces…...Although we don't accept this claim.”

Iran has missiles that can reach Israel and is working to build a nuclear bomb.

Does the Iraq study Group Report discuss which country would be its first target?

The principal lesson learned from the Holocaust is, if they say they want to kill you, believe them.

I believe in a Taba/Geneva solution must be made real - but that only happens when the PA wants it to happen. And now Hamas says it will never happen.

So what the hell is the Iraq Study Group expecting? And if they get something - anything - do they really expect that to stop Iran?

[newyorican]

3. hmm...

The article is about the Saudi reaction to the Iraq Study Group Report and you wind up in Iran?

There are plenty of articles/threads about Iran, this isn't one of them.

If you argue the dreaded linkage aspect, then the Palestinian issue cannot be avoided in any discussion of the ME. If I recall, that is a concept which Israeli officials have dismissed for years.

[papau]

4. Let's see - Saudis and 911 - hmmm - and I did say use Taba/Geneva to settle now - eh?

Don't think I was saying anything against the idea of settlement of the PA/Israeli dispute other than I thought there should still be a Jewish State of Israel around after the settlement.

Oh - but of course - the linkage ....

I believe the Hamas-Palestine Government, Saudi Arabia, Iran and indeed all those that signed onto the Carter perhaps approved (it is hard tell if he approves since sometimes he praises and other times he does not) Arab Peace imitative that demanded a right of return that would end Israel as a Jewish State, were all in agreement that the solution is the end of Israel. Now that is sort of a linkage - at least that is how I see it.

So perhaps yes - I agree one must talk about the problem - but until the US is ready to flush the idea of Israel as a Jewish State down the toilet, there is really not much to say that the non-Israeli side will accept - or even take time listen to without telling us that we - the US - are biased.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. would Israel would enter into a Taba/Geneva based negotiation with the PalestiniansAuthority?

A few months back Hamas had given the impression that they were prepared to talk with Israel and would possibly be prepared to negotiate some type of agreement. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of bad blood developed since then.

However most Palestinians and at least some Israeli leaders do want talks:

_______________________

Polling Data - Palestinian opinion

Do you support the continuation of peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel?


Support
67.0%

Oppose
29.7%

No opinion
3.3%



Do you support or oppose a two-state solution based on international declarations?


Support
57.8%

Oppose
39.0%

No opinion
3.2%

Source: Birzeit University Development Studies Programme
Methodology: Interviews with 1,200 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, conducted from Sept. 14 to Sept. 16, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

link: http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/13292

It should be noted that between 25% to 30% of Palestinians support a single non-ethnic state --- (New York Times, Sept. 14, 2003)
__________________________________

former Israeli Foreign Minister Schlomo Ben-Ami
link: http://www.democracynow.org/finkelstein-benami.shtml

"SHLOMO BEN-AMI: Yes, Hamas. I think that in my view there is almost sort of poetic justice with this victory of Hamas. After all, what is the reason for this nostalgia for Arafat and for the P.L.O.? Did they run the affairs of the Palestinians in a clean way? You mentioned the corruption, the inefficiency. Of course, Israel has contributed a lot to the disintegration of the Palestinian system, no doubt about it, but their leaders failed them. Their leaders betrayed them, and the victory of Hamas is justice being made in many ways. So we cannot preach democracy and then say that those who won are not accepted by us. Either there is democracy or there is no democracy.

And with these people, I think they are much more pragmatic than is normally perceived. In the 1990s, they invented the concept of a temporary settlement with Israel. 1990s was the first time that Hamas spoke about a temporary settlement with Israel. In 2003, they declared unilaterally a truce, and the reason they declared the truce is this, that with Arafat, whose the system of government was one of divide and rule, they were discarded from the political system. Mahmoud Abbas has integrated them into the political system, and this is what brought them to the truce. They are interested in politicizing themselves, in becoming a politic entity. And we need to try and see ways where we can work with them.

Now, everybody says they need first to recognize the state of Israel and end terrorism. Believe me, I would like them to do so today, but they are not going to do that. They are eventually going to do that in the future, but only as part of a quid pro quo, just as the P.L.O. did it. The P.L.O., when Rabin came to negotiate with them, also didn't recognize the state of Israel, and they engaged in all kind of nasty practices. And therefore, we need to be much more realistic and abandon worn-out cliches and see whether we can reach something with these people. I believe that a long-term interim agreement between Israel and Hamas, even if it is not directly negotiated between the parties, but through a third party, is feasible and possible."
__________

BTW: I got the Haaretz newsletter this AM too ;)