If you want to know why I promote Sarah Palin, read these especially the first one; Who is Sarah Palin?,
Governor Palin’s Budgets: Pointing Out the Obvious (That She’s Got A Stellar Record)
By Ted Belman*
Come hell or high water, President Obama is determined to create a Palestinian state during his watch. He has been doing his utmost to attack and pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to support the two-state solution which Netanyahu did in part in his Bar Ilan speech and to freeze construction which he did for ten months ending September 26/10. To no avail. Because of the backlash Obama experienced last summer from Jewish leaders, he was forced to start a charm offensive in the lead up to the Nov 2nd mid-terms. Now, all bets are off. His determination to create a Palestinian state, which he supported long before his political career started, will be intensified now.
At the moment Netanyahu is refusing to formally extend the freeze but he is withholding approval of construction for the most part. He demanded that the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state as the price for extending the freeze. Abbas categorically rejected doing so and still refuses to negotiate without a formal freeze extension.
The PA is threatening to ask the United Nations to declare all Israeli communities east of the 1949 armistice lines, illegal and to demand the expulsion of Israelis living in them. It is also threatening to ask the Security Council to recognize the state of Palestine with pre ’67 borders. It is testing the waters to see how many states will recognize it under these conditions. The problem will be that there is no basis for recognition. And thus it will have no legitimacy.
Just this week, Netanyahu told a Likud faction that that the issue of the freeze “is not being discussed.” and that a unilateral declaration of statehood by the PA would “exact a price from both sides” and would not promote a solution to the conflict.
Either of these resolutions will not have teeth in them but they will increase the deligitimation and demonization that Israel is presently being subjected to.
The Jerusalem Centre for Public affairs published a paper on International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State: Legal and Policy Dilemmas by Tal Becker. He writes “The Palestinian entity does not become a state under international law merely by a unilateral declaration to that effect. To be eligible for recognition it must satisfy specific legal criteria. Indeed, under international law, the recognition of an entity which clearly fails to meet these criteria constitutes an unlawful and invalid act.”
These criteria include,
• Is There an Effective and Independent Government?
• Does the Palestinian Entity Possess a Defined Territory?
• Does the Palestinian Entity have the Capacity to Freely Engage in Foreign Relations?
• Is There Effective and Independent Control Over a Permanent Population?
• Unilateral Palestinian Attempts to Acquire the Attributes of Statehood”
Becker takes the position that a state declared by the PA meets none of those criteria. Nevertheless, many countries could possible ignore international law and recognize Palestine anyway. What then? “Palestine” would be a state in name only without sovereignty or independence, at least no more than they have now. It would signal the end of the Oslo Accords and the Roadmap and UNSC Res 242 upon which they are based. Israel would be free to set its own borders even to the Jordon River. It could do this by simply extending Israeli law over all of Judea and Samaria, save for Palestinian population centers.
It is for these reasons, that not only will the US and Europe be reluctant to recognize such a state but that also the PA is unlikely to declare it without their support.
We will then be left with a “peace process” that has left many maimed and dead in its wake; one that requires a negotiated solution. Neither party is willing to compromise their present positions. Consequently no agreement is foreseeable.
Obama will be left with one option, namely, to force Israel to agree to terms she doesn’t want to agree to. He can try, but he won’t succeed. Israel will not bend and will mobilize the new Republican Congress to thwart him. Not only will the Republicans oppose such efforts but many Democrats will as well. Obviously, if he is to make progress, he must do so before the presidential primaries begin.
Even if Obama gives up his dream of solving the conflict before his terms expires, the next administration will have to deal with a peace process that isn’t going anywhere. They can choose to maintain the charade or end it. In the former option they will struggle to maintain the illusion that peace is around the corner, while attempting to achieve small interim agreements. This could go on for decades. In the latter case, they will need a whole new paradigm.
The State Department was against the creation of Israel before its birth, forced Israel to retreat from the Sinai after she conquered it in ’56 and maintained an arms embargo on Israel until after the ’67 war. The State Department negotiated UNSC Res 242 at the end of the war which allowed Israel to remain in occupation until she had an agreement for “secure and recognized borders”. But the Arabs refused to accept it. So two years later, the US came up with the Rogers’ Plan which required full retreat to the ’49 armistice line. Thereafter the embargo was lifted and Israel became America’s ally in the Cold War. This military/intelligence relationship grew and blossomed with many advantages to both Israel and the U.S. This was so even after the fall of the USSR.
But throughout this friendship, the US continued to force Israel to participate in a peace process against its will. While the US maintained that the final agreement had to be negotiated between the parties, the US put a “gun” to Israel’s head during negotiations.
Pres G. Bush ’43 started out his term of office not wanting to get involved in the peace process as his predecessor Bill Clinton had done. But 9/11 happened and the US invaded Afghanistan. Before invading Iraq, the US negotiated with Saudi Arabia to get her cooperation. Even though it was in the interests of Saudi Arabia that Iraq would no longer threaten them, the Saudis insisted on Bush declaring support for a Palestinian state, which he did in his vision speech of ’02. They also insisted that the US renew the peace process. Bush worked diligently on this process in the lead up to the invasion and Saudi Arabia worked with the State Department to prepare the Saudi Plan which demanded a full retreat in line with the Rogers Plan. One week after the US invaded Iraq, the Roadmap was launched. By agreement this Plan was included in the Roadmap. This was necessary in order to offset Res 242 which did not require full retreat.
The Roadmap also incorporated the Mitchell Report which demanded the end of violence and incitement and an end to settlement construction. The Oslo Accords had included the right of Israel to do infilling and did not restrict construction in the Settlement blocs. Thus the Roadmap severely limited Israel’s options. Nevertheless, the Palestinians continued their incitement and terror and Israel continued to build.
Whereas Pres Bush had permitted infilling for “natural growth” and recognized that Israel would retain the settlement blocs, Obama attempted to end all settlement construction including in the blocs and the battle is still raging. The PA of course joined Obama in making this demand.
Although Obama is still trying to bridge the gap, few are anticipating success.
If Gov Palin becomes the next President in 2012 she may end the impasse by introducing a paradigm shift. To date she has not retracted her support for a “two- state solution” which in any event, is not a two-state solution that the Palestinians would accept. She told Barbara Walters, “I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. …And I don’t think that the Obama administration has any right to tell Israel that the Jewish settlements cannot expand.”
In the VP debate, she said she would move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
She told AIPAC “Let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel.”
In a similarly firm tone, she told Charles Gibson, that she would not “second-guess” Israeli military action against Iran.
While many politicians kiss up to the American Jews during elections, Sarah Palin has always exhibited affection and support for the Jewish people and Israel. Her views are supported by 50 million Evangelical Christians who support an undivided Jerusalem and Jewish claims to Judea and Samaria. The latest polls indicate 65% of Americans support Israel.
After decades of trying to reach a two state solution, America should abandon the attempt and pursue a more workable solution such as autonomy only for the Palestinians.
Sarah Palin has a reputation for shaking things up. She, more than anyone else, is likely to usher in the required paradigm shift.
*Ted Belman is a retired lawyer and the editor of Israpundit. Last year he made aliya and is now living in Jerusalem
http://www.njdc.org/site/page/jewish_vote_for_obama_exceeds_all_expectations
“The chart [included] highlights how the national and state polls of Jewish voters progressed over the course of this election.”
The 78% came from the National Pool EXIT POLL taken on election day.
http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/05/1000778/obama1
There is no other source for that 78% than from the post-election EXIT POLL.
Yamit. You are so off base in being critical of Palin’s views on feminism.
AE proved to you that you were wrong to quote her as saying so. Furthermore the rest of your comments serves to distort her true position. The Tango calls for domination. Palin’s point is a woman can have it all.
AE. Had I noticed Yamit’s comment which you quote I would have deleted it. Sorry I missed it.
She would have the powers of Veto were she president.
I would A- question making continuous comparisons with Obama when defending Palin. Obama may be president but he should not be the standard to which you would want to select your alternative. That would mean a comparison with the lowest standard. Almost anything or anyone can then in most of the public’s eye TODAY, be a better choice.
B- Certainly if one were to make claims of being true to conservative values in America. Womens Lib as we used to call it is not a conservative value. Think when Palin praises she whose husband was a family fiend ( Gambini) Family for breaking Glass ceilings( A True conservative value) without mentioning that it was Mondale’s Choice and had nothing to do with her or her Zero congressional record. She was then a useful vagina and not worthy of praise by a real conservative. Who does she think she is, when praising Ferraro, Gloria Steinem or walking in the footsteps of Betty Freidan?
Many if not most women who hold conservative family values were never into Womens Lib,they put family above all else and believe that staying home and raising their children is a Christian and conservative value. I am sure they were not thrilled to be called a Neanderthal by one who is less than a stay at home mom, mother to an out of wedlock baby mom, who capitalizes on her mother to also parley that notoriety into lucrative offers. I can see Lot of family conservative and Christian values Moms really being offended by Palin and her claims to be a family values conservative.
Ted, I don’t think Palin can be described as an “evangelical” but she is definitely a committed Christian and not just in name – she actually lives her faith unlike many who call themselves “Christians”.
Mahatma Gandhi, who admired Christ, once said that he would have definitely become a Christian if more of them were like Christ.
Why were Americans more tolerant of Obama’s Muslim connection and Rev Wright’s ChUrch than they were of Christian Evangelicals.
Palin may be an evangelical but she is not Pat Robertson. So she believes in God, so do 80% of Americans. She is pro-life. So are 50% of Americans. Her best friend is a lesbian. They roomed together in College. For her the Constitution and Supreme Court must be followed. That’s why she vetoed legislation that aimed to take away certain benefits from Gay couples. She said she will not legislate against abortion but will advocate against it. If Congress votes against abortion because it is the will of the people then nothing wrong with that. This is not an issue of minority rights.
This is false. The 78% is an official estimate of the percentage of A,erican Jews who voted for Obama. The figure is now down to 52%
This is a display of ignorance of the statistical polling process, which cannot be remedied in a forum like this one.
It may be a good idea to stay away from someone who finally exposes some of the nonsense that is spouted here, as the examples above show.
Shown below is a comment to show a REAL Israpundit bully and put some perspective to Ted’s unfair and unfortunate comment above:
Yes AE is a bully, that’s why I am moderating him. Perhaps I let more through than I should.
Your right Ted. Sarah Palin is probably the BEST Christian I have seen in a long time. Especially given the fact that she is constantly in the public eye and political arena.
To say that Palin is polarizing is to say that she is not wishy washy as obama is not wishy washy. She is polarizing in the sense that she gives Americans a distinct choice. People who now woke up to the fact that Obama is not the answer, now want a “middle of the roader” or moderate. In other words “Obama lite”. No thanks. Palin wants to move the centre to the right. The new Congress is making noises that it too is “polarizing”. It is not in the mood for compromise. So if you believe Palin is polarizing you must believe that the new Congress and thus the American people are polarizing. No, the moderates and independents will be taken out of their comfort zone and will have to make a choice. Palin’s fiscal conservatism or policies which are wishy washy. In other words, as my father would say “nisht ahine, nisht ahair” meaning not here nor there or not this nor that.
I think the GOP did so well in the last elections because the moderates and independents bought into Palin’s fiscal conservative principles. At least they didn’t reject them as they rejected Obama’s policies. So why would they reject Palin? In my opinion, those who reject her and call her names and mischaracterize her do so because she is a Christion Evangelist, believes in God and is pro-life.
The vast majority of emails I received which attacked me for supporting Palin were exhibiting anger on the part of the senders. Why “anger”? There seems to be a lot of animous out there particularly among Jews. Those Jews do not speak for the secular or Christian moderates or independents.
Thanks Yamit. I get the same bullying when I try to explain the landscape to liberals, elsewhere. AE is the intolerant flipside of the liberals who call me racist bigot ignorant, or incoherent. AE thinks an exit poll is the same as actual voting %. No, 78% of voters who 1) agreed to be polled upon exit in select precincts in select cities, 2) who said they were Jewish, and 3) said they voted for Obama, is an exit poll, NOT a real percentage.
No one asked me who I voted for. No one asked the hundreds of thousands of Jews who did not vote in 2008 (at least 200,000 stayed at home in NY9). McCain won Rockland and Nassau counties due to the Jewish vote.
I like Palin. But she will not win the presidency in 2012. She is too smart to risk the inevitable circus. The election will turn into a referendum on abortion, which is what just happened in New York.
So, yamit, I shall stay away from the bully AE who thinks he knows everything, a true sign of insecurity.
Even Jon Stewart cannt makes jokes this funny.
Oy, veh! Here we see how Yamit does his “research” of which he is so proud.
Now, any honest person who knows Palin would immediately know that Yamit was telling a brazen lie about her calling stay-at-home Moms Neanderthals..
But click on his link. You will see the headline, “Palin Calls Supporters of Stay-at-Home Moms “Neanderthals”’ Then listen to the video and you will hear that this is the very opposite of what Palin said. She called those who CRITICIZE stay-at-home Moms, Neanderthals, and hoped that they would evolve.
I have to agree with the ever wise and rational Bird.
Stick around Bird, a few of us rationally sane beings need to hold to line against blind irrationality.
Palin Calls Supporters of Stay-at-Home Moms “Neanderthals”
Some supporter of traditional values 🙂
Nonsense. I forget nothing. They lost because they forgot their own principles and tried to become popular with the left wing media and the Washington and New York cocktail set.
In 2008 John McCain took the lead over Obama as soon as he picked Sarah Palin and people heard her make her first speech at the Republican Convention. He held the lead until about 6 weeks before the elections. Then the financial crisis struck, which was created, protedted and defended by the Democrats, and the media put the blame on McCain, who, with Bush, ironically had tried to stop the madness.
It is people like you were stupid enough to vote for Obama – 78% of American Jews – so you now try to piss and moan and try to demonize Palin, who has more brains than Obama, Pelosi and Reid combined.
McMahon and Whitman are idiotic examples because they were running in two of our most idiotic states, which are both bankrupt.
‘Polarizing’ is NOT the same as ‘extreme’. Polarizing has nothing to do with policy.
How quickly AE forgets that the hyper-partisan Republicans lost THEIR majorities in 2006 and 2008 by the same moderates and independents who just punished the hyper-partisan Democrats in 2010 for behaving just like Tom DeLay and Bill Frist.
Go ahead and see what happens if Sarah Palin is stupid enough to go for it. I believe she is far too smart to jump into the presidential run in 2012 after seeing Linda McMahon lose to wobbly Dick Blumenthal in Connecticut and Meg Whitman lose to former governor moonbeam Jerry Brown in California.
Sayonara Ted. This is no place for anyone who thinks clearly.
Palin will run on fiscal conservatism not social conservatism. She is already making her case for these values to independents and Reagan democrats. She knows who to go after.
She also points out in many of her speeches that there is nothing extreme about her or her policies. Limited government, low taxes, lower spending and constitutional conservatism appeals to all independents and moderates. Nothing extreme here.
Au contraire, mon ami. The moderates and the independents were reacting to the most polarizing president and Legislature in the US in a long time, thanks to Pelosi, Reid and Obama. These have been the most partisan and polarizing politicians in recent times, who rammed through expensive and complex legislation without anyone even having the time to read the bills and without a single Republican vote.
Poppycock. Both Reagan and Bush 43 were staunch social conservatives and both won two terms, with greater margins when they were re-elected. The wishy-washy conservatives like Bush 41 and Bob Dole and John McCain were soundly defeated, after Bush 41 won the first time on Reagan’s coat-tails.
Palin is the modern re-incarnation of Reagan in every way – including the initial notion that Reagan was a lightweight actor in B movies.
If you have to ask this snarky question, you do not understand what just happened in the American elections, which are won by getting the votes of moderates and independents who are disgusted by the polarization. NO Republican who is a staunch social conservative can win the presidency. A fiscal conservative can win. Let Sarah Palin beat Oprah, and leave the politics to someone who can win.
Those Americans on the left, like Barack Hussein Obama, are either too stupid to see that the Palestinians want no Israel, or don’t care. Those of us on the right know that it is essential that Israel survive no matter the cost.
My concern is do Americans really know the Palestinians, who I believe are nothing more than an anti-Semitic tool used against the Israelis.
Who are Palestinians
If the case presented by Yashiko Sagamori is true, then are the Palestinians entitled to a state in the Holy Land?
I may be wrong but I see the whole Palestinian issue as a means of the terrorist and Arab world to gain much of the Holy Land as possible to eventually bury the Israelis.
The present US administration is doing it’s best to aid the Palestinians in the quest. Americans should be appalled by it.
AmericanEagle writes:
She can have the Dom Perignon. As a senior citizen, I gotta stick with beer, for both health and financial reasons. Burrrrrrpppp!!!!
Well done, AE except for the last sentence.
Here we see ignorance personified:
We know he’s on Obama’s side.
Here we see another Obama lover. The quitter made $14 million the last twelve months. Ask the White House, whose current inhabitants first sent in a small army of character assassins into Alaska, and now jump every time Palin makes a Facebook entry of a tweet, whether Palin is a quitter. Ask the numerous politicians who got elected because of Palin whether she’s a quitter.
Not really. The question is whether she can afford the pay cut.
I will leave the Bird’s love affair with his dead cat alone. Palin would polarize the US against the Obama lovers as well as the Palestinians, since she is more pro-Israel that well over half the American Jews, 78% of whom voted for a protege of Rashid Khalidi, Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright.
Cheap shot, Andy. She may be drinking Dom Perignon, though, because she will still be making over $10 mill a year, on speaking fees alone. Eat your heart out!
rongrand, do you understand that the patriotic Zionist founders of Israel accepted a 2-state solution and mush less land than Israel controls now?
What’s your problem with a little polarization when we are dealing with closet communists in the current Democrat leadership?
Israel’s only hope for a one-state solution is to be attacked again. If not, it’s 2 states as planned in 1947.
You must mean Gog u Magog. If so that means you are wiped out as well.
Zechariah
It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying: Let us go speedily to entreat the favour of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say: ‘It is My people’, and they shall say: ‘The LORD is my God.’
Read Zach 14 for yourself
Esau hates Jacob and Jacob will win out. Esau is Edom and Edom is the Christion West led by America= Gog.
I guess you haven’t been paying attention. There will be a one state solution imposed in the Middle East before the next election.
Israel’s neighbors are planning a war so massive that only one party will survive it. They have thousands of missiles that can hit all of Israel. They have air defense systems to stop Israeli aircraft. They have chemical warheads to kill more Jews. They are coordinating their activities. The end of Israel is near.
Actually, Israel will finally wake up and start using its nuclear weapons on its neighbors.
The one state solution will be Israel alone.
Time to stop comparing Palin’s experience to Obama. Americans want someone with more experience than both of them put together, someone who can govern without all the polarization. Obama was NOT-Bush43. Palin can not win just by being NOT-Obama even if she speaks to more Americans sense of America.
No more soap operas in the WH. Gravitas matters.
Uncle you first part may be true, we don’t know, only time will tell. She certainly will be a major player in the conservative movement in the US.
Your second point the fence, it was a plus. It’s exactly what is needed in our Southern border. Unlike the Berlin wall to keep people in, it’s necessary to keep out the bad guys and unlike the US, Israel was constantly being attacked by suicide bombers and the likes.
The problems the Israelis face with the Arab world is not space science, they want to kill Jews and destroy Israel and to think differently is a matter of anti-Semitism at it’s best. They don’t fool anyone, they can color it which way they want. Why would an administration support and aid the likes of Israel’s terrorist neighbors and pretend to be a friend of Israel.
I still say Americans as a whole don’t really understand the Israeli/Palestinian issues and as long as the liberal left media is in charge, they won’t get the true picture.
Someone, a real leader in Israel needs to come front and center and take charge and in doing so come to the US and tell it like it is.
Maybe they are afraid of her or maybe they want her to be the Democratic opponent. They know that many Republican and independent conservatives will knee-jerk support her as a reaction to the lefts bashing.
I was very much against the separation fence in the West Bank until Bush came out against it and actually threatened Israel over it at one point. That was when I became a supporter just because Bush and Condi were so against. Same could be with the lefts/liberal bashing of Palin?
Laura your right about Obama, he is nothing more than a community organizing pamphlet distributor, an anti-Semite pretending to be a Christian, embracing Islam, incompetent president.
Let’s face it the liberal left and their media are afraid of her. She is against everything they stand for.
Slammin’ Sarah will be guzzling cheap beer and hunting grizzlies back in Alaska by 2012. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
No he’s not. And I would welcome this outcome very much. Do you have anyone better in mind? Why do you buy in to the media’s negative portrayal of Sarah. She succeeded in running a large state. She is far more qualified to be president than Obama who spent less than one term as U.S. senator before being elected president and before that had only spent a small time as Illinois senator and had been a community organizer. So why do the same people that supported obama say Sarah lacks qualifications to be president?
Dream on Ted. I still dont think that the U.S. is ready to vote for a woman and Obama is probably banking on that. But then again it will depend on Obamas popularity two years from now. And we know how much damage he could do in the next two years.
My dead cat, who was truly a remarkable cat, has a better chance of being elected president than Mrs. Palin, who, in her own way, is as polarizing as Obama.
Be patient. Obama will be challenged by one or more Democrats in the primaries (from both the left and the fiscal conservatives) if he does not decide to retire to spend more time with his family.
Ted might want to check out Texas governor Rick Perry’s thoughts about Israel and Jerusalem. Perry is going to rivet the country if he leads Texas to withdraw from Medicaid at the same time as New York’s new governor Cuomo is on his knees begging congress to save NY Medicaid. Future expansion of Medicaid, using the NY model, is at the heart of what is wrong with Obamacare.
In my opinion, if the US supports the Jewish settlements it will actually increase the chances of a peace agreement. To paraphrase Jabotinsky, the biggest obstacle to peace is the Arab hope for total victory. When the Arabs see the world — especially the US — pressuring Israel, demonizing Israel, delegitimizing Israel, it gives them hope that Israel can be brought down like South Africa was. So of course they refuse to make any concessions.
President Palin ? Are you kidding!!!!
email rec’d
Belman: President Palin is eminently electible– for the office of dogcatcher. If she is nominated as Republican presidential candidate she will guarantee Obama’s second term.
Ted, whose side are you on??????
It appears that he is but only the amount of pressure BB is allowing him to exert. It isn’t as though BB has no options other than to agree and even welcome the pressure from America.
Yes, BB agreed (The first Israeli PM) to recognize a Pali State and accept a 2 state solution formally. The rest is BS with regards to his stipulations that could or would never be enforced. In any event he has set the principle in stone. Who forced him to agree in the first months of his tenure. The freeze was in force from the First day of BB’s occupancy of the office of PM, so the acceptance of the freeze only gave the aura of capitulation to pressure. It was a continuation from the Olmert government.
Everybody knows he is continuing to freeze construction so what does it matter if he formally agrees to what he is informally doing?
Public posturing probably for domestic considerations on both sides, as based on many recent reports they are in advanced negotiations already.
BB is bluffing and has been known to be less than truthful.
Either of these resolutions will not have teeth in them but they will increase the deligitimation and demonization that Israel is presently being subjected to.
Teeth is in the eye of the holder. It would be another nail in the delegitimizing of Israel and many nations would formally recognize such a resolution as justification for formal recognition. Their goal is obvious, to reduce Israels presence in the territories and legitimization of Palis as our equals in all international forums and institutions. All this without giving up anything to Israel. It’s a take take scenario with the ultimate goal of reducing Israel to a point where she can be eliminated by force.
The Arabs and even the Americans are not looking for a solution to the conflict except on their terms. No Israel no conflict; would satisfy all except us.
I feel like screaming every time somebody brings up international Law. As if International law has ever been invoked in our favor. When it is clearly in our favor all ignore the Law, even our leaders past and present. Forget international law nobody cares.
Obama can’t do a damn thing unless BB and his government of pygmies agree to it. What can Obama do? If he wins a second term then all bets are off and 4 years is a long time. He could win again so a no by Israel now would bring things to a head today and not later when we might be more vulnerable to pressure. How Israel deals with Iran will be determinative. I am not so sure BB would survive Israel sitting on our hands if Iran declares they have Nukes. Not acting in our interests would have a desultory effect on the IDF and diminish our own capabilities in our own eyes and those of all our enemies and friends. We would feel and look quite impotent.
You already know my views of Sarah Palin. That if she opposed Obama today, Obama would win going away. 2 years is a long time though so I will wait and see what develops.
Even if by some act of Divine intervention, Palin were to become the next President, she wouldn’t be able to kill the peace process. Israeli leaders have been busy performing CPR on it for years, and wouldn’t hesitate to provide ANY means necessary to maintain it alive.
The problem is not Obama, Abbas, the West or the Arabs, the problem is Israeli leadership. The israeli leadership lost its compass a long time ago and that has led to the delegimitization of Israel’s very existence and the creation of an israeli mentality and culture that hates its very existence, as it views its existence as morally corrupt since it’s based on the dispossesion and oppresion of another people. Most israelis have lost their connection to the Jewish nature and significance of their state, and it shows clearly with their government and policies.
I know Ted loves to attribute magical powers to Palin, but even President Palin wouldn’t be able to fix this mess. Maybe President Moshe Rabbeinu or President Moshiach>
For Whom? For What?
NO!
Blair was only the fall guy.
You forgot to include the Vatican linkage which I suspect had much to do with Blair’s position.
You are so politically correct and kind. 😉
email ec’d
email rec’d
The pivotal quid pro quo linking support for the Iraq War with a Palestinian state came from Tony Blair and Britain.
Those who believe that Sarah Palin will be the next US president are magical thinkers.
I think that Palin would be much more amenable to carrying out a peace plan according to the will of the Prime Minister of Israel, rather than imposing her own plan.
But if Livni, for instance, is PM, that will likely not work out to be a good thing for Israel.
Will the next elected Israel PM end the peace process?