Israel is in need of mediators

[Violet_Crumble]

It appears that the Israeli aversion to international initiatives for solving the conflict with the Arab world is inherent in us. The world, and in particular Europe, is assumed to be hostile to Israel, and every international conference is conceived of as an ambush in which Israel's enemies will try to force it into an arrangement that is contradictory to its existential interests.

This aversion is particularly difficult to understand in view of the fact that Israel is sunk in a bloody conflict that has no solution, neither diplomatic nor military. The battlefield - in Lebanon against Hezbollah and in the Gaza Strip against Hamas - no longer makes it possible to gain easy victories or a decisive advantage. In both cases, the governments enabled the Israel Defense Forces to push forward to a victory but they were not able to carry out the mission.

What is the government proposing to get out of this quagmire? The foreign minister has suggested speaking with "the moderates" in the Palestinian Authority. It is worrisome to think that she is not aware that the distance between the moderates and the extremists is most minute, and that the moderates will act toward setting up a Palestinian state with its borders on the pre-1967 green line, with Jerusalem as its capital and an agreed-upon solution to the refugee problem. In general terms, the moderates want a solution on the basis of the Saudi initative.

There is no longer a possibility of negotiating with the moderates while neutralizing the extremists, who today constitute the elected government. Any negotiations conducted by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) with Israel will always include a side glance at Hamas to see what it will be prepared to accept. In this respect, there is no difference between Abbas the democrat and Yasser Arafat the dictator. Both of them have always worked toward an agreement that would be based on internal Palestinian consensus, and which would prevent a decline into civil war. In other words, negotiation with the moderates is in effect an indirect dialogue also with the extremists.

It is to be hoped that there is someone among the prime minister's advisers who will make it clear to him that, even though Abbas will no doubt be "surprised at how far" he is prepared to go, this will nevertheless not be enough to meet the minimum demands of the Palestinians.

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/790928.html

[breakaleg]

1. So the moderate and extremist Palestinians have no distinction from one

another because they both see East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. Since Israel wants all of Jerusalem for itself, isn't that an equally extremist point of view?

[IntiRaymi]

2. The assumption is that everyone is hostile to Israel.

For instance, the loud demands that I "support Israel's right to exist."
Not very keen on litmus tests that contain veiled threats.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. So, you don't "support Israel's right to exist."?

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[IntiRaymi]

6. I am the arbitrator of what I will respond to.

You can make all the noise you want, as far as I am concerned. But you don't pull rank on me.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. Which is what I said.

But I will continue to ask what I wish. And the question still stands, unanswered.

On edit: The only one pulling "rank" is YOU! I wasn't the one that said what could and couldn't be asked here...that was YOU!