Interesting Al Jazeera piece

[YOhio]

So this Palestinian kid and his buddies make random phone calls to people in the U.S. before every primary urging them to vote for Obama. I don't know what to make of it. It's just interesting.

[MikeWaters]

I think Obama might be least beholden to American Jewish interests, therefore most likely to bring peace to Israel/Palestine.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I think Obama might be least beholden to American Jewish interests, therefore most likely to bring peace to Israel/Palestine.

What biases a US president may or may not have is a gigantic red herring as far as Israeli/Palestinian relations go.

[TripletDaddy]

It is interesting and somewhat ironic to see Palistinian political activism geared towards US elections, yet not so much towards promoting a system of elections in the Middle East.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

It is interesting and somewhat ironic to see Palistinian political activism geared towards US elections, yet not so much towards promoting a system of elections in the Middle East.

That's kind of what I took away from the piece. It seemed like there was so much naivete in that kid. He truly believed that peace was going to come through Barack Obama.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

It is interesting and somewhat ironic to see Palistinian political activism geared towards US elections, yet not so much towards promoting a system of elections in the Middle East.

Shirley, you can't be serious. You don't think Palestinians in West Bank would love to vote in Israeli elections? They are required to pay income tax, BTW.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Shirley, you can't be serious. You don't think Palestinians in West Bank would love to vote in Israeli elections? They are required to pay income tax, BTW.

I was referring more to Arab countries, but your point is well taken.

Since we are on the topic, what do you suppose is the ideal BUT practical solution to the Palestinian issue? This conflict has been raging since I was alive, so at this point, I honestly do not know.

I know that hardline rhetoric calling for Israel to be wiped off the map was abandoned by moderate Arabs long ago.

A creation of a Palestinian state would require Jews to give back land, yet they seem to express little willingness to do so.

Ideally, what is the endgame?

[MikeWaters]

Last evening on NPR, they had a piece on a new pro-Israeli lobby, called J Street.

They said that they are different in that they actually want peace.

I thought that was interesting.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Last evening on NPR, they had a piece on a new pro-Israeli lobby, called J Street.

They said that they are different in that they actually want peace.

I thought that was interesting.

They must be an offshoot of the website J Date, where the goal there is to get a piece....

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

I was referring more to Arab countries, but your point is well taken.

Since we are on the topic, what do you suppose is the ideal BUT practical solution to the Palestinian issue? This conflict has been raging since I was alive, so at this point, I honestly do not know.

I know that hardline rhetoric calling for Israel to be wiped off the map was abandoned by moderate Arabs long ago.

A creation of a Palestinian state would require Jews to give back land, yet they seem to express little willingness to do so.

Ideally, what is the endgame?

There are no easy solutions. But I think the first step would be to halt any further expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and begin to dismantle current settlements. Carter was right; it is a form of apartheid.

GWB was the first US president in history to fail to denounce the settlements. I can certainly understand why Palestinians would be against a candidate thought to be sympathetic to Bush's foreign policy.