If you were given the job of Israeli Prime Minister what would YOU do?

[savemefromdumbya]

Say you were given the job as Israeli PM today what would you do about the situation in Lebanon? Many people debate the subject but what if YOU really HAD to do something about the middle east? How would you treat Hamas or Hezbollah? How would you treat the US and the UN?

On an another note does the Dem Party have a policy on the middle east that is workable?

[bemildred]

1. Fire Halutz to start with. nt

[MarkDevin]

2. Quit!

:evilgrin:

[Hippo_Tron]

4. I second that

[shadowknows69]

23. Indeed, not historically the safest job in the universe

Right up there with keyboardist for the Grateful Dead.

[Warpy]

3. The middle east problem can no longer be solved by Americans

I'm afraid that's the bottom line now that Chicken George has completely fouled up his glorious adventure in Iraq. We will be greeted with open hostility, we will not be viewed as an honest broker the way both Clinton and Carter were, and there is nothing we can do about that. A Reputation that took an incredibly long time to build can be destroyed very quickly and permanently. Chicken George has done that.

The only plan that has a ghost of a chance is using the UN to separate the two batches of squabbling brats and for the world at large to try to force them to a negotiating table.

To do that we will need to get men like Bolton out of it. We will also have to stop that kneejerk veto of any chastisement of bad Israeli policy. When they're wrong, they're WRONG, dammit, no matter what AIPAC says.

It doesn't matter that the Democrats aren't telling Chicken George how to solve this mess. The day when we could possibly have an effect over there is long gone, thanks to the horror that is Iraq.

[savemefromdumbya]

20. AIPAC needs a remake-remodel

[Peace Patriot]

5. I would ask to speak to the Iranian people. I would apologize to them

for helping to destroy Iranian democracy in 1954, and installing the horrible Shah of Iran, who inflicted 25 years of torture and oppression on the Iranian people. I would say that I know that this makes them afraid and suspicious now. I would ask for a clean slate for Israel--amnesty, forgiveness, peace--and propose a joint venture of Israel and Iran toward the rebirth of Middle Eastern culture in the fields of art, literature and science, and I would pledge half of Israel's military budget toward that end. I would admit that Israel has made a grave error in allying itself with the fascist oil and war profiteers who have taken over America, and I would ask the help of Iranians and all Middle Eastern peoples in expelling the Bush regime from the Middle East, and restoring order and civility in Iraq. I would further ask their help in creating a just settlement for the Palestinians, and for ending all manner of terror and bloody conflict in the Middle East. I would propose a massive project for reforesting the Middle East, to be paid for by Israel. Forests attract moisture and temper the climate, and make agriculture possible, and improve life in every way. This will be the Middle East contribution to stopping global warming. And I would ask in return only that the Iranian people recognize Israel and permit its people to live in peace as members of the Middle Eastern community, and toward that end, I would propose a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as was done in South Africa, so that grievances may be honestly aired with no punishment to the truthful.

Then I would utter the words of the great Persian poet Sa'di:

The children of Adam are limbs of each other
Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time afflicts one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others
Thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a man.

----------------------

John Lennon said "Imagine," and so I am imagining what it would be like to see the world fall on its knees and weep for joy at this Israeli Prime Minister's words. He said, "Dream," and so I am dreaming it. And his friend Paul said, "Love, love, love," and that is what I am wishing for. Enough of war! Have we not had enough of it? Imagine something else. Do something else. Be something else. Dream something better.

[savemefromdumbya]

21. Yes, people could learn from S Africa in some ways

[treestar]

22. That's intruiging

If they allied with the Arab countries against the US, the possibilities for them are endless. And they'd be safer.

Maybe that's why the US does all it can to prevent that.

[zonkers]

6. I'd stay home, drink and watch the dvd version of Raid on Entebbe w/Yaphet

Koto as Idi Amin.

[SammyBlue]

7. Collect all information I could on where the Hezbollah terrorists are

hiding in Lebanon and lay waste to each and every one of them.

Go out of my way to order the IDF to avoid civilian deaths at all costs, but order the IDF to a perform a massive seizure and extraction of every member of Hezbollah.

Then I would try the ones who went peacefully. . .if they are convicted, I'd publically execute them.

on edit: Enough Jewish blood has been spilled by non-Jewish hands over the past 2000 years. It's time to protect my people.

Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel, drive every Jew to the sea and not work for a lasting coexistant peace, then they will get death.

As Golda Meir put it when she recounted all the Jewish blood spilled by the Nazis, Russians and Germans. . .and the silence of the murder of Jews worldwide in 1972 in Munich. "I have seen more bloodshed and horror committed on the Jewish people than I care to relate. Send forth the boys." And Operation Wrath of G-d began.

[BillZBubb]

9. Some bad people murdered Jews so now Jews murder?

That's your solution? That is the rant of a fanatic. You are no better than a Hezbollah fanatic that wants to kill all the Jews.

[SammyBlue]

12. blah blah blah blah blah

Jewish blood is cheap.

If these people want peace, take out the vow to destroy Israel. When they lay down their suicide bombers and rockets, we'll lay down our guns.

[TankLV]

15. That's too hard a concept for too many to grasp, aparently.

sigh...

[BillZBubb]

8. I'll bite

If I were Israeli PM I would immediately stop hostilities in Lebanon and announce it publicly. Israel would only return fire into Lebanon as counter-battery operations. I would send word through Damascus or Jordan that Israel was ready to meet DIRECTLY with Hezbollah to arrange a longer term ceasefire and prisoner exchange. I would also ask Hezbollah for a list of its specific grievances against Israel. Israel can't do anything about having a Jewish identity, so if they TRULY want all Jews dead, they won't get anywhere. But, just maybe, Hezbollah would accept something far short of pushing Israelies into the sea. I suspect they would. I think Israel must change policies completely and meet fact to face with even its seemingly most implacable foes.

I would immediately send a high level emissary to Beirut to discuss a Lebanese solution to the border issue. What could Israel do to help Lebanon keep the border from heating up again and strengthen the hand of the new government? I would also discuss how Israel could help Lebanon rebuild it's damaged infrastructure.

I do not think the UN has to be involved in this. Longer term for Israel it would be better if they were not and a modus vivendi was achieved with Hezbollah.

As for the US, it doesn't appear any policy changes would be necessary. The US pretty much gives Israel what it says it needs.

The issue of dealing with Hamas is much bigger. So, I'll answer that in another post if anyone is interested.

[madrchsod]

10. maybe they should try something different

they certainly haven`t done very well on making the israeli people any safer...

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. Turn Israel into a Buddhist state?

Now THAT would confuse the shit out of everyone there. I figure it would be good for a few years of peace while the rest of the area tried to figure out their stance on the sudden change.

[Clarkie1]

13. I'd meet with the President and Prime Minister of Lebanon, immediately.

Explain to them my concerns about a rouge militia bent on destroying my country operating within their borders. Explain why I felt I had to act, regret over lives lost, and seek their cooperation in disarming them. I would seek assistance in issuing a joint statement condeming Syria and Iran for violating the sovereign state of Lebanon through their support of the Hezbollah militia, and that irregardless of any disagreements we may have, we agree Hezbollah must be disarmed in order for the Lebanese government be able to govern the sovereign state of Lebanon.

And, as a gesture of goodwill, I would offer aid in rebuilding Lebanon along with the rest of the international community.

[savemefromdumbya]

24. The IRA also used to have gripes against the UK govt

but it seems to be better now. Israel could sort it out with the help of the Lebs.

[unkachuck]

14. I would begin....

....to design with the Israeli and Arab intelligentsia, a new Socialist Economic model that would be compatable with Islam, Arab culture and the ME. Capitalism has failed the ME and will continue to fail the ME....

....an inter-dependant economic system that could be immediately implemented with no winners and no losers....a system bank-rolled by ME oil....social services up front with semi-market/state projects following....more secure and better lives for all Arabs in a comfortable Arab system....

....Israel might have to take it on the chin for a few years....but anger with Israel would begin to subside....championing this new Socialist model compatable with Islam, Israel would be seen as the driving force to improve ALL lives in the ME....support for extremist points of view would begin to disappear as the system came alive....

....put people to work, improve their lives, treat them fairly and within a generation the ME will know peace....

[yurbud]

16. Build the wall on the 1967 border, allow international peacekeepers on

one or both sides, and stop the collective punishment.

With the Soviet Union gone, Israel's neighbors have no superpower backing them up. If Israel and the US give the Palestinians a true state of their own that isn't subject to regular occupations and airstrikes, even saudi would recognize them as they have already offered to do.

The problem is not what should Israel do, why we have a different set of rules for them than for any other country including our allies when it comes to these issues.

[ErisFiveFingers]

17. I'd base my borders on legal ones, and then...

My plan:

1. Announce a plan to return to the internationally decided legal borders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan

2. I would announce that the EU, UN, NATO, the Arab League, and *any* *other* military force in the world was totally welcome to set up bases in the new borders. An attack on Israel would thus be an attack on the whole of the world... it would be like suicide bombing the UN in order to attack the land.

3. I'd repatriate all natural born (and descendant) refugees, and start a compensation plan for land illegally siezed under international law. This ends the "palestinian oppression" excuse, especially in conjunction with the new borders.

4. I'd start an EU-like effort, perhaps the MEU, to make the middle east a powerful broker in global affairs, complete with non-discriminatory currency, open borders, open trade, and economic bloc discussions. The middle east stops being a pawn, and starts being a queen.

5. I'd divert 95% of my military budget to setting up schools, hospitals, and orphanages in the region. (Why are americans so blind as to *why* Hamas and Hezbollah have so much support? In my eyes, they have support because they are often a *positive* force for comfort and prosperity with the poor, which allows those militants to then point to Israel and say "what have they done"?). I could divert this massive budget, because of step 2.

6. I'd require that in order to get an Israeli high-school diploma, one must be fluent in at least *two* major languages used in the ME, ensuring that regional dialogue is possible by everyone.

7. I would hold the first democractic election in the state *ever*, and, like Lebanon, realize that a true democracy doesn't mean you get to pick an official religion, or philosophy, or ethnicity, or culture, for the state.

8. I'd insist that we have a constitutional convention after the election, and be required to draft a constitution within *a year*, which honors international law and the UDHR. (Israel has no such document yet.)

9. Because of all of the above, I would expect to be assassinated within a year by psychotic terrorists who believe that god gave them a right to land, or a right to a theocracy, or an "ethnic homeland" which they could then use to exclude others, or denigrate others, to the detriment of the rights of others.

I miss Rabin. He *got* it. He was killed not only by Israelis, but by Israel.

[rucky]

18. Eris for PM! n/t

[savemefromdumbya]

19. I like the idea of a EU effect all countires in the ME join

that includes Israel.