It's as we've long believed and often stated: Palestinians aren't yet committed to peace with Israel.
That much was made clear enough again this past week when Palestinian terrorists killed four Israelis on the eve of landmark Mideast peace talks at the White House -- and when the unrepentant leader of Hamas weighed in.
"Today marks the start of direct negotiations between someone who has no right to represent the Palestinian people and the brutal occupier, to provide a cover for Judaizing Jerusalem and stealing the land," Mahmoud Zahar said in denouncing efforts at peace.
This is not from a mere interested observer; Hamas rules the Gaza Strip.
Hamas vowed to continue "resistance operations" -- a euphemism for terrorism against innocent civilians.
The best hope for peace appears to be if Hamas's blatant terror during peace talks only ends up isolating the terrorist rulers of Gaza. If other countries, and the United Nations, don't openly condemn and marginalize Hamas now, then peace efforts are doomed from the start.
The rival Palestinian faction, Fatah, which governs the West Bank area, instituted a crackdown on Hamas militants in its midst after the murder of the Israelis Tuesday. Let's hope the crackdown isn't purely for show, and that the militants won't simply be let loose when the world stops watching.
Peace-loving Palestinians, as the Fatah party's Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claims to be, might find -- if they can throw off their hatred of Jews -- that they have much in common with their Israeli neighbors that they don't share with their colleagues in Hamas.
Still, it must be said that even Fatah -- the more moderate Palestinian faction, which is now at the table with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington -- calls in its constitution for "complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence." Not a promising foundation for peace.
The Palestinian people must, once and for all, decide whether they want to make peace with Israel or continue making war. One would hope other Arab nations -- Jordan's King Abdullah and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak are at the Washington talks -- would tip the scales in favor of recognition of, and peace with, Israel.
Abdullah's father, King Hussein, worked quietly for years with his Israeli counterparts to win peace in 1994. A year later, the Jordanian king sincerely grieved the loss of a "brother" when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin died. "We became brethren and friends," Hussein said of Rabin.
We see the same spirit of brotherhood in Hussein's son. If only the spirit would descend on those now at the table.
Hamas' bloodlust should only inspire it.
It is amazing how ACES puts the onus entirely on the Palestinians. Hamas was elected as the representative of the Palestinian people in Jan 2006. Israel refused to negotiate with Hamas, put strangling sanctions on Gaza and the West Bank, and helped to foment a civil war between Hamas and Fatah. That is when Hamas won control of Gaza.
Hamas is not at the negotiating table. Israel cannot make any kind of effective peace deal with Abu Abbas and the Palestinian Authority without Hamas present and consenting. Even Abu Abbas says there can be no peace with Israel unless there is a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank. United States must be as tough on Israel as it is on Palestinians before real progress can be made towards a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.
That's correct. Put the entire blame where it belongs. Israel cannot afford to give an inch and our president must support it's position.
So many actually thought that when the Dems took over Bush would end up in jail. The Dems tried, but there was nothing there and they went on to other things, such as vacations, summer breaks.. |:}
chronicle, your the ones that need to "capture the spirit of peace." Oh, and while your at it, try a little love and understanding.
sjgraci...please learn the difference between "your" and "you're." If you understand the language...people just might take you seriously.
I think perhaps the Chronicle is showing love and understanding for the State of Israel. you know, the good guys. The Jewish people are our friends, enough said.
I grew up hearing about WWII and the way the Jewish people were being mistreated. Is this happening again. I don't understand the resentment against the people of Israel. Will somebody please tell me why the dislike is so intense?
I did not post anything anti-Semitic. I responded to this jilted pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian editorial. I call on United States to apply an even hand when trying to promote an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. Look what an extreme reaction my moderate post elicited. Please explain to me how my first post in these comments makes me a "Jew hater". I disagree with the foreign policy of Israel just as I disagree with the foreign policy of United States - in particular Israel's reliance on heavy handed military action when untenable demands by a dominate state disguised as "diplomacy" are not met with immediate, utter capitulation by weaker, subjugated Palestinians. IMO Israel would greatly benefit from considering the golden rule and how they would react if they were in the Palestinians' shoes.
Peace-loving Palestinians ... WOW, is that ever a relative description. It's kind of like honorable and honest American liberals. You hear of them, but upon any kind of investigation, you find they're just someones idea of a fantasy.
Jordan showed how to deal with Palestinians when they infected their country. Begin killing them en masse, at every opportunity, and inform them that this is the new national policy. The Palestinians won't be mollified, but they'll leave.
Palestinians can't live peacefully with Palestinians, how can they, or anyone, expect them to live with anyone else?
Cain...will you EVER answer the simple question?
And your incessant support for people who's stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map is anti-Semitic. If someone came out and constantly supported and defended the KKK, don't you think you could infer that they were racist..............same thing works here.
Taking a position that the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine which was done by the Great Powers after WWII (as part of reparations for the European Holocaust against Jews) over the objection of the residents of Palestine and every surrounding state does not equate with being "anti-Semitic". I and others including the Israeli writer and activist Amos Oz favor a 1 state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict although a two state solution may or may not be a necessary intermediate step. Blindly supporting any and everything that the State of Israel does is not tantamount to support of human and civil rights for either Jewish or for non-Jewish denizens of the region. There can be no peace without all of the Palestinian people represented at the negotiating table. Biblical claims to ownership of the land do not comport with legality or with reality.
Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the Dec 2008 - Jan 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza. Israel committed a disproportionate number of illegal killings. There is no justification for those types of heavy handed tactics.
There is no justification for Israel's heavy handed tactics, but hamas's are ok?
Don't let me distract you with another question though..... HOW do you feel justified living on land that was stolen from the natives by force and murder?
Tigger, that is different. The Palestinians aren't trying to take Cain's land. After all, it is only native Americans you are talking about. And as Americans (native although they may be) they are not as important as those that refuse to believe Israel has a right to exist. Come on Cain, the Palestinians and neighboring countries would not have lost the land that they did had they not attacked Israel in the first place. I think Cain's position is "OK we quit attacking you now, please give us back the land we lost in our feeble attempt to destroy you".
At 11:58 pm Tigger_The_Tiger called me a "Jew hater". At 12:11 am Tigger_The_Tiger called me a "loser". At 8:51 am Tigger_The_Tiger accused me of hypocrisy.
I have stated my position without personal references of any kind to Tigger_The_Tiger. The Chronicle made a big show when it launched the "new" Reader Comments that exchanges were supposed to be civil. Apparently The Chronicle does not have the will or the staff to enforce its self-proclaimed standards.
Still no answer, Cain?
Siding with people who want to destroy a nation and wipe it from the map is civil?
Cain says, "Give me my ball, I don't have to take this. I'm going home." lol
Why are YOU living on land stolen from the Indians, Tigger_The_Tiger? American Indians certainly have more of a legitimate claim to this land than the absurd assertion based on a 2000 year old claim that Israel has the right to lands supposedly given to Israelis by their God including all of Jerusalem as their capital. The Israeli position of stonewalling on this issue is untenable, and they know it. Time simply is not on the side of Israel when it is entirely unaccommodating to the legitimate demands of Palestinians who have at least an equal and sometime more of a legitimate claim to the land.
Cain...I'm not the one claiming someone doesn't have the right to exist. I'm not the one who is siding with a government that was formed with the goal of destroying Israel. YOU are....thus the hypocrisy.
What is your legitimate claim?
One simple sentence Cain. "To the victor go the spoils." That is how Israel lost Jerusalem and that is how they regained it.
The battle for Israel is a spiritual battle. It will be the location of the last battle. Just think about how tiny Israel is the target of such virulent hatred - not just currently but for millenia! This goes beyond wanting their land or as the Arabs claim wanting to return to "their" land - a provably false claim. Why would nations want to destroy Israel? The Arabs have 90+% of the area and yet want to destroy the only country in the area with a booming economy, unmatched military, and freedom. It goes beyond logic and therefore all attempts at logical negotiation will fail. The Arabs are liars, terrorists, and thieves. You simply cannot negotiate with them. Unfortunately, Israel will agree to a peace treaty toward the time of the end - while their eyes are still blinded. It will result in untold tribulation - but this will open their eyes and they will turn to their Messiah (and ours) for help. Even so come, Lord Jesus!
60 years is a long time for people to forget. The Palestinians are the victims. Millions of Palestenians lost their lands and homes and they are scattered around in refugee camps. Thousands were killed and imprisoned. The rest is living in isolation without basic human rights of freedom to move even inside the occupied territories.
As a result of the failed peace efforts, most of the people does not have too much hope for success this time.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2015602,00.html
I am still hoping that this time it will succeed. The difference is not the Palestinian position or the Israeli position. It is the US geovernment position. It is not in our national interest for this conflict to continue.
Notice Cain MENTIONED the question in hopes that people will think he actually answered it.............but alas.........still no answer.
Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Sunday that peace hasn't happened "for generations" and won't happen now. He said Israel should ensure it's own security and economy.
"You have to understand that signing a comprehensive peace agreement is an unattainable goal – not next year and not in the next generation. There is nothing we can do about it. No historical compromise and no painful concession." Avigdor Lieberman told Yisrael Beitenu party members.
It appears American Jewish voters who have previously voted for Democrats consistently are abandoning Obama like it was a Gaza bound supply ship before an Israeli raid.
McLaughlin and Associates, in a study of American Jewish voters this June, reported that 42 percent would support the president’s re-election, while 46 percent indicated that they would vote for ANYONE else.
I agree with the late Israeli Prime Minster, Golda Meir, "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people." Palestine was created by the British and has been used by the Arabs for their own purposes. Israel is Israel's and has been since "Time Immemrorial".
This from Joseph Farah:
"On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:
The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
Occasionally, inadvertently, an Arab will speak the truth.
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