Israel has invaded Gaza...

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Thank you. We continue to disagree however. If you read article 33 and pay attention to the comments of the two Hamas officials...it's more than clear to me that killing or displacing every Jew in Israel is only a beginning step toward their goal, the same goal as ISIS and Al-Qaeda...a worldwide Islamic Caliphate where the primary purpose is to rid the world of infidels. Who would be anybody who isn't a Muslim.

Netanyahu has already stated that he can work toward a 2 state solution. That said...I have very little problem with the other points stated above. I have no problem with the Jordan river being the eastern boundary of the state of Israel. I support Israel's refusal to create sectors in Jerusalem. Or any of the rest of it. Israel is already and has already done considerably more for the Muslim population of the West Bank than the Jordanians and Palestinians did for there own people, or for the Jews when they controlled the West Bank. Not only has Israel allowed Muslims to visit their holy sites in Jerusalem and other locations in the West Bank, but actually provided for the Temple Mount to remain under the control of Muslims and to manage the site as a Waqf. As opposed to the situation on the West Bank between 1948 and 1967 when Jews were not being allowed to access to the Western Wall or any of their other holy sites, and when every Jewish cemetery in the West Bank was desecrated by the Muslim population.

So let's just keep all the history in mind when we're thinking about the situation. Israeli Jews need to be very careful about what they might relinquish in land, because they know that whatever dirt might become the Palestinian part of the 2 state solution, dirt that may contain Jewish holy sites, will be dirt they will never have access to again.

Where does it leave 4 million Palestinians you ask. It leaves them where any solution leaves them...at the mercy of whoever has control over them. Because anybody who thinks the average Palestinian's life will improve when they live in a Palestinian state controlled by Palestinian leadership is kidding themselves.

I credit you for a good, thoughtful response. I'd like to believe that Bibi is interested in a negotiated 2-state solution, but I sense a lot of what he says to the American/international public is designed to make us believe he wants some sort of solution. His actions say otherwise.

As for the second bolded statement, I doubt that many Palestinians agree with you on this. Therein lies the rub.

FWIW, here's an interesting op-ed piece by a French academic on the history and travails of Gaza.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/op...f-history.html