Free Republic

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to agree to the creation of a Palestinian state in provisional borders, even before his conditions for a final-status agreement are met, former minister and veteran peace activist Yossi Beilin said. “I don’t think that Netanyahu, who is far from being a warmonger — he’s a very cautious person — [is ready to commit to] a permanent solution. Not because he doesn’t want it — all of us want it — but because he’s not ready to pay the price,” Beilin said Monday night. “But to speak about a provisional border with the Palestinians,...

Long-strained ties between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama sprang to the fore of Israel’s election campaign on Wednesday after the U.S. president was quoted as criticizing the prime minister’s character. Less than a week before a January 22 ballot that opinion polls predict the right-wing Netanyahu will win easily, Israeli media highlighted a U.S. commentator’s column on Obama and questioned whether the Democratic president was trying to sway the vote. Netanyahu’s office declined comment on Tuesday’s unsourced column by Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldberg, which described Obama as frustrated at West Bank settlement building that has deepened Israel’s diplomatic impasse with the...

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney supports a two-state solution to solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he told CNN during his visit to Jerusalem. In an interview with the American news network, which took place in Jerusalem on Sunday, Romney was asked if he saw the starting point for negotiations as the borders which existed prior to the 1967 Six Day War. He responded by saying, “I'm not being that specific. I'm saying that there will be borders that have to be negotiated and what the starting point is something which will be decided by the...

Obama has recently revealed his plan for regulating the Middle East conflict. Basically, the President wants negotiations to start with an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 border, and go from there. Here is a brief explanation why even the precondition for negotiations is unachievable. 1. Indefensible borders. Look at the map above, one does not need to be a general to see the problem. After the withdrawal Israel will be around 10 miles thick in the middle, a column of tanks could cut the nation in two in half an hour. Every major Israeli population point will be within striking...

The War for Israel’s Independence By Ari Bussel Israel’s enemies are becoming more and more vicious in their attacks. They claim to anyone who would still listen that it is the last attempt to save Israel from herself. To them the Palestinians are the answer, in fact the glorified goal, and cannot do anything wrong; Israel is at fault. They no longer sound reliable, these “lovers of peace.” Just a few days ago they embarked on a field trip to the Palestinian village where the murderers of the five members of the Fogel Family lived. The brutal murder was a...

Anticipating a Baby by Ari Bussel A woman in labor is on a hospital bed, surrounded by teams of doctors and nurses. Outside, the hospital is overtaken by family members and pre-screened well-wishers. It seems the who’s who of the global scene have assembled in anticipation. Throngs of reporters line the entrances to the hospital and beyond them police barricades and security forces. Excitement is in the air. The world, it seems, is holding its breath, awaiting the arrival of the soon-to-be-born. Champagne bottles are chilled and banners raised everywhere. The scripts have been written. Crews are assembled in strategic...

Ifs, Ands and Buts by Ari Bussel “I understand what you are saying, Ari, the rockets launched at the City of Sderot created eight long years of horror and hardship, but…” or “the significance there was not a maritime route to Gaza is noteworthy, but there is, after all, a naval blockade causing the population to starve…” and a new all-time favorite accepted by Jews and Palestinians alike: “The Palestinians are eager for a two state solution, people living side by side in peace, but the right-wing Netanyahu Government is blocking any prospects for peace.” There always seems to be...

UN Charter: “To maintain international peace and security.” Edit LinkBy Ted Belman A movement is afoot to get the UN to predetermine borders between Israel and the future 23rd Arab state and to recognize “East Jerusalem” as its capital. Such predetermination would be in violation of the Roadmap which calls for a negotiated solution where “negotiated” implies freedom to say “no”. And such predetermination would prejudge the outcome which the world never tires of telling Israel, no one can do. I began doing research on the powers of the UN and on whether such UN predetermination would be ultra-vires its...

Obama has surrounded himself with a host of vehemently ant-Israel advisors including Lee Hamilton, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Samantha Power, Susan Rice and Gen Jones, many of who advocate imposing a solution on Israel. So it was no surprise that he started his term of office by attacking Israel, America’s best and most steadfast ally, and demanding a complete settlement freeze east of the greenline including Jerusalem. He went so far as to repudiate the US commitment set out in the Bush ’04 letter to Sharon saying there was no agreement. Elliot Abrams and others involved in the negotiations which led to...

The recent media attention garnered by the relatively new J Street lobby necessitates an examination of the very notion of the term “Pro-Israel.” Until very recently the J Street was always self-branded as “Pro-Israel”. Intensifying the matter is the case of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel spoke on November 10, 2009 at the General Assembly/GA of the Jewish Federations of North America, the largest and most important event on the U.S. Jewish establishment’s calendar. Emanuel has been called “Pro-Israel” by the media. It should be clear that the label “Pro-Israel” must be defined if the term is...

Yesterday, I commented on the NYT article The Two State Solution Doesn't Solve Anything but failed to address it on a strategic level. For years now, many, myself included, have commented on the intent of the far left and the Muslim movements on Campus and elsewhere was not to usher in the two state solution or end the occupation but to end the State of Israel. Now the NYT has brought this intent into the mainstream. In the weeks and months to come, you will see more and more voices abandoning the two-state solution for the bi-national state. Its happened...

Netanyahu's speech this week achieved a very important purpose. Egypt's reaction to his demand that the "Palestinians" recognize the fact that Israel is a Jewish state made it clear that it, too, do not recognize Israel as such. All the prime ministers who preceded Netanyahu had totally ignored this essential fact. If he would have wanted to, Netanyahu could have ignored it as well. In this respect, Netanyahu has performed a tremendous service for the state of Israel and is deserving of praise. Suddenly, Israelis learned that it is not just the stubborn "Palestinians" who do not recognize the right...

" Never ask a friend to buy a horse you wouldn't buy yourself" - (Loose translation of an old Yiddish proverb) Apply the principles urged on Israel to the United States, and you end up with a scenario something like this: The new final settlement conference between the US, Mexico, and the Aztlánistas is scheduled for late June. The agreement promises a new chapter in the relationship between the countries -- and new hope for Mexican refugees yearning for self-determination and a state of their own. For years, there have been ongoing hostilities, culminating in a rash of illegal immigration...

A total of 76 percent of Israeli Jews give some degree of support to transferring Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state, a poll commissioned by the Knesset Channel revealed, Monday. The poll, conducted over the Internet, included 668 adult Israeli Jews representing the entire political spectrum, cites a 3.7% margin of error. The poll asked participants whether as part of an agreement to establish a Palestinian state there would be justification to demand that Arabs with Israeli citizenship relocate to Palestinian territory. Only 24% were totally against the idea. Of the remaining 76%, 29% said all Israeli Arabs should...