Netanyahu isn’t determined to go slowly, he is completely against a Palestinian state.
He has made this clear many, many times.
Indeed, from Netanyahu’s past statements, it seems very clear he has contempt for Palestinians, an attitude not uncommon in Israel.
If you want peace, you embrace it. Full stop.
If you want what Netanyahu wants, you behave as he does.
What does he want?
The rest of the Palestinian territory without the people.
Going slowly in this way is properly called slow-motion ethnic cleansing.
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“What you have in the Holy Land is a clash of ethnic nationalisms infused with religious ideas.”
I do not think that is accurate.
The Jews – at least the non-European ones – and the Palestinians are closely related people, indeed it is an Israeli scholar who recently told us that the Palestinians are pretty much the remains of the ancient Israelis left after the Roman conquest.
As far as religion, Israel is one of the most secular societies on earth. Only the ultra-orthodox segment gives it any religious color.
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“There will be peace when your friends in the Arab and Muslim world agree to recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
The writer above may be sincere in believing that, but Israel is completely disingenuous when it repeats this tired bromide over and over.
One of the few negotiating levers Palestinians have ever had is withholding recognition. Israel otherwise holds about all the power levers.
Any person who reads the world’s news should know the artificiality of that notion.
It is common practice among states to withhold recognition as a negotiating position. The United States has done it many, many times.
The US waited decades to recognize the Soviet Union.
It has gone the best part of half a century without recognizing Cuba’s government.
Further, how do you recognize a state with no clearly defined borders?
One, moreover, intent on expanding its de facto borders?
Further still, the formulation Israel always insists on is recognizing Israel as the Jewish state. What about the million and a half Arabs who supposedly hold citizenship?
Asking people to certify you as a Jewish state is exactly akin to asking people to certify you as a Muslim state or any other “ism” you care to name.
The above points make clear just how complex the Israeli/Palestinian matter is, and there are many other matters of international law involved.
It is anything but a simple fight between religions.
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“…the two state concept is as much a contributor to peace as was the splitting on Korea into north and south…”
That is wrong and poorly informed.
The entire history of the creation of the state of Israel, going back to agreements with the British government through the UN mandate, assumed and mapped out two states.
It is only since Israel became a reality that the two-state concept has virtually disappeared.
The Six Day War itself, and we have the testimony of some very important historical figures including President de Gaulle, that Israel contrived with deliberate provocations and black-ops to get the Arab states to attack, knowing full well that with its serious advantage of front-line US weapons it would easily win.
Israel knew it could count on the US too. Indeed, with the USS Liberty incident – the deliberate two hour attack on a well-marked American spy ship in the Mediterranean – Israel tried to pull the US in from the beginning.
We see the result. More than forty years later, occupation continues along with a constant bureaucratic pressure to remove Arabs, take land, bulldoze homes and olive groves.
CHUCKMAN'S WORDS ON WORDPRESS: COMMENTS FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS 