MindfulCoug, give your perspective on the current ME conflict if you will.
 

I already know about the atrocities Israel is perpetrating.

Please answer whether Hamas and others in the Near East want Israel destroyed.

I think it's pretty obvious what Hamas wants but the real question is, does Israel want to survive in such a hostile environment? Does her close western allies want her to establish a strong yet peaceful relatioship with her neighbors? Becuase the way they are acting, doesnot support that. Spoiling a troubled child is not the best way to build her future, IMO.

Iran supreme leader calls for armed west bank.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07...-in-palestine/

Most Iranians are not necessarily happy to see thier money and resources being used to support Palestinans but when Israel does what it does best, atrocity, they wont mind doing whatever they can to help fellow human/muslim Palestinans out.

Iran has enough oil resources to be successful and prosperous. Investing in conflict may raise prestige at home and with certain sectors, but in reality it stymies its domestic growth by diverting necessary funds. Is the trade off worth it?

I think it's the question both Americans and Iranians have to be worried about.

But its a little bit more concerning for Americans becuase they finally get to see the real bride with no heavy holocaust make up on for the first time. Seeing the ugly bride with no hair extensions and no false lashes is really scary.

They can't help but think is it really worth spending all our much needed money on her??

In American, the religious right strongly supports Israel. Blank check.

The foreign policy hawks on the right support Israel as well.

Most of the Jews in America support Israel. They are generally liberals.

And lots and lots of liberals support Israel as well.

So it's the one thing where there is bipartisan support.

Saying "what about the Palestinians?" is definitely against the grain. Americans have been taught that the Palestinians are something akin to terrorists. Hamas doesn't help change that perception.

Well, the perception IS changing. I remember when I joined the board, I was told to "tune it down" becuase there was no way the board would stand my rant about Israel. And now that I have been reading your posts through all these years, I clearly sense the change.

Plus for Hamas to actually care enough to change American perception is a chance to be alive and have a decent lives. The luxury they obviously can't afford.

There is so much hate and violence that people tune it out, until it is on one's front doorstep. The realities of support for Palestinians is that there is virtually none in the US. Israeli support transcends party lines and even reason.

The problem for the Middle East, if it cares what the US does and thinks, is most Americans view the Middle East as one monolithic whole, and perceive it through the lens of the worst actors, such as Syria, sometimes Iran, Hamas, Libya and Iraq. Because the states are so distant and alien, the average voter see things simplistically and ignores the dissonance.

What does make Syria, Hamas, Iran and Iraq the worst actors in the middle east and not Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Egypt? May be we can get somewhere if you try to answer this question honestly.

What do you think of this ?

Israel, Not Hamas, Orchestrated The Latest Conflict In Gaza

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...after-all.html

And here is the more detailed version of the story.

http://www.informationclearinghouse....ticle39199.htm

So you do not even recognize Israel's right to exist.

I am saying that her approach to claim her right to exist is not helping Israel to achieve that. It is just hurting its people and the region.

You sound like a drunk bridesmaid who is late to the wedding asking the bride not to marry the groom because " he is not right for her". SJBH

That girl in the video is cute. Is she Kazakh or East Asian?

So it's Israel's process that you take issue with, not her right to exist?

No idea. In Iran We usually put ugly people on the news desk so we wont get distracted or want to know more about them instead of paying attention to what they are delivering.

Of course, but first they need to have a land.

who? The Palestinians?

what does "right to exist" even mean?

Does the Soviet Union have the right to exist? I mean it doesn't exist. It did exist. It might one day exist again. But what right to exist does it have?

Does an independent nation of Hawaii have the right to exist? What does that mean?

You can't ask these questions without inviting severe criticism. Does Palestine have the right to exist?

Well, they used to do. Hence the name Palestine. Now we have to see does Israel's right to exist let Palestin which used to have a right to exist reclaim her right to exist?

I think it is what is called trend setting in fashion. Israel's style have been followed by some players ( trend followers) in the region.

So you support a two-state solution?

Yes, if that is what Palestinians and Israelis want. But according to Saeb Erakat, Palestinians negotiator, while Palestinian's side has already agreed on Two state solution, Israel is yet to accept Palestinian's right to have a state.

I don't really know what the solution is at this point in the narrative.

Here is a plea for help which touches me. I believe the author is LDS, but in any event, she is neither Jewish nor Muslim, but claims to be a practicing Christian Palestinian.

http://saharqumsiyeh.blogspot.com/20...-back.html?m=1

Here is also a thought opinion.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/28...referrer=&_r=0

I could not open the first one because blogspot is filtered in Iran and I do not have proxy on my phone.

The second article ( an English translation of Hebrew) is a perfect example of promising future for the Palestinians and the Israelis. I am not sure how these little voice of reasons could prevail the extremists who have the money and the power to dampen the reality of the century old conflict.

Didn't we have an LDS Palestinian or something that posted on this site years ago describing life in the West Bank? Or am I misremembering? Maybe there was a link to a blog?

Falafel?

I don't remember. No user with that name now.

Remember your comment about Jews responding to discrimination by protecting other groups, while Mormons responded by doing just the opposite? That statement needs modification in light of what's going on in the Occupied Territories. Not a complete abandonment; Jewish philanthropists funded most civil rights organizations in the USA. But a modification.

This is fast changing, especially among young Jews. Bret Stephens said, Jews are often at the forefront of Palestinian solidarity movements on campus.

https://www.facebook.com/avidoestheh...8563163553595/

It's a minefield to make any kind of critical comment of Israel.

I have a friend who is Palestinian American. I may have mentioned her before. She showed me on Google Earth her family's house. Of course now occupied and taken away.

Israel usally demolishes homes. The only other country that did that was Saddam-era Iraq. They don't give Palestinians any permits to build homes on their own land, and if you build without a permit it'll just demolish it.

Its been a while since I posted here. The board used to LOVE Israel a lot and it used to rub “ Israel is the only democracy in the middle east ” into my face a lot.

Welcome back.

I consider them a democracy. With a few caveats:

1. Their human rights record is the lousiest for a liberal democracy.
2. They are an ethnostate. Nothing wrong with that, but that's not what the USA is.
3. The majority of their population comes from countries without a strong democratic tradition , i.e., Middle East and Soviety Union.

Actually, I think it was the opposite. At least, opposite compared to other sites with a largely conservative, religious American population.

I wouldn’t dare visiting those sites. Your site and the other one are the most I could handle, mentally. To be honest, you are fair people considering how much unbalanced bad news you have been consuming about Iran/ Iranians!

Thank you. It seems we never left though.

Umm, very lenient view toward the country where the first and foremost pillar of a democracy is a huge sham. Yet you as Americans are ready to give them whatever they need to not only survive but thrive while my country, Iran, has to immensely suffer for decades with no end and not many Americans would even care.

All one can do is judge from afar and externally.


I have traveled to Cuba and Venezuela, and what I discovered is nothing novel or earth-shattering but still bears mentioning. The citizens of those countries, whose governments seem unfavorable from an American perspective, were warm and inviting. The Cubans joked occasionally about the gringos, but they separated governmental disagreements from social and personal engagement.


I have many Iranian or Persian friends, with whom I have quite the lively discussion, but it always ends in a good meal and good enjoyment. I would struggle operating in the restrictions of your country, but wish nothing but good health and good fortune.