Time for a Palestinian State

[Mr_Perceptive]

Rice: Now Is Time for Palestinian State

Oct 15, 9:18 AM (ET)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza said Monday it was "time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," and described Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts as the most serious in years.

An international peace conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., in November has to be substantive, Rice said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said.

Israelis and Palestinians, Rice added, are making their "most serious effort" in years to resolve the conflict.

"Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," she added.

Rice is on a four-day shuttle mission, trying to create some common ground ahead of the meeting. A State Department official hinted on Sunday that the conference might be postponed because of the gaps between the two sides.

The Israelis and Palestinians are trying to work out an outline for a final peace deal ahead of the Annapolis conference, but tensions arose on Sunday when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet that he did not regard that outline as a prerequisite for the meeting to take place.

The Palestinians said that without such a document, they would not attend.

Israel has been pushing for a vaguely worded document while the Palestinians want a detailed outline, complete with a timetable for establishing a Palestinian state.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza said Monday that Israelis and Palestinians are making their most serious effort in years to resolve their conflict, which she called "one of the highest priorities" of the Bush administration.

An international peace conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., in November has to be substantive, Rice said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said.

Israelis and Palestinians, Rice added, are making their "most serious effort" in years to resolve the conflict.

Rice is on a four-day shuttle mission, trying to create some common ground ahead of the meeting. A State Department official hinted on Sunday that the conference might be postponed because of the gaps between the two sides.Tim

[_JS]

A State, or another Bantustan?

Frankly, I see neither as the solution.

[sirs]

Nor do I see Isreal handing over more land for the "promise of peace" as a viable alternative either

[_JS]

No. I don't think separation is viable at all.

Israel has to end its apartheid policies, its use of second and third class citizenship. A society cannot exist on the backs of a deprived, humiliated, separated people. These "two states" are a joke. It is a set of Bantustans, no different than those in South Africa.

Israel can come to terms with this now, or face a truly bloody ordeal in the future that will result in a worse position for everyone.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Israel is an unwelcome middle-class colony in the midst of a sea of hostile and impoverished third worlders.

A return to the 1967 borders, and an exchange in which the Palestinians give up the Right of Return for a sharing of Jerusalem  is the obvious solution. If some deal is not made now, the possibility of a deal taking place in the future is diminished.

Eventually there will be more Palestinians than Jews in the area, and Israel will cease to be a Jewish state. Time is not on their side.

The last deal, proposed under Clinton, was a Palestine made up of an assortment of Bantustans. Arafat was generally a fool, but he was not a fool when he rejected that plan.

The US will not subsidize Israel forever, either. Nor is there any reasopn why it should.

[sirs]

Israel is an unwelcome middle-class colony in the midst of a sea of hostile and impoverished third worlders.  A return to the 1967 borders, and an exchange in which the Palestinians give up the Right of Return for a sharing of Jerusalem  is the obvious solution.

*snicker*....well as Ami has accurately summized, that proclaimation is now null & void, reinforcing the point I made already

[Michael Tee]

A two-state solution is the only one that's fair to both sides.  The history of the Jews for the last 2,000 years should be conclusive proof that they have no alternative but the establishment of a Jewish state with nukes and a very strong military.  Anything less is just an invitation to another Holocaust.  Strength alone won't guarantee survival, but at least it will ensure that anyone who tries to fuck with them as the Germans did will wind up with a little Holocaust of their own as a reward for their efforts.

The problem being that the current Jewish leadership is wrapped up in land-greed and racism, leading to the disenfranchisement of the Palestinians, whose rights cannot continue to be ignored.  They (the Likud) want more than they're entitled to and more than they need, and in pursuing those unreasonable and unrealistic goals, they are building up a tidal wave of hatred that is going to wash over all Jews in Israel and the diaspora.

These statements by Rice are just a con job.  The West Bank occupation has gone on since 1967 and there has been plenty of time for a concrete proposal of a realistic concession of land to be made.  Reiterating once again that the Palestinians need a state is a ridiculous restatement of the obvious which is absolutely meaningless by now.  The combination of the continuing Jewish settlement of the West Bank with the ludicrous lack of meaningful detail in the "support" being given to the Palestinian state is proof that this is just one more in a long series of fraudulent stalls and delays that the Israelis with American support have been jerking the Palestinian people around with.  The building of the apartheid wall and the confiscation of more Palestinian lands for yet another settler road network is just the icing on the cake.

If I were a Palestinian leader, my message to Rice and her Israeli clients (or maybe it's the other way round, maybe it's Olmert and his American clients) would be:  "Fuck off.  We've had enough meetings and conferences and nothing came of any of them.  The occupation is now 40 years old.   Get back to me when you have a realistic proposal and a realistic timetable, otherwise go fuck yourselves."

[Plane]

A return to the 1967 borders, and an exchange in which the Palestinians give up the Right of Return for a sharing of Jerusalem  is the obvious solution. If some deal is not made now, the possibility of a deal taking place in the future is diminished.

Obvously not , elese why was there war in 67?