Obama Expected To Moderate Meeting Between Netanyahu, Abbas

foxnews.com:

President Obama is expected to moderate a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in late September, a discussion that could lead to the resumption of peace negotiations, Israeli President Shimon Peres told FOX News.

Read the whole story: foxnews.com

Comments

[murphy80]

good luck......­.

[alysheba 3]

Might be difficult if Abbas doesn't arrive for these talks. Abbas says that until all settlement activity stops e will not talk to Netanyahu.

[Paulo1]

Bad idea,

Let them moderate themselves. This game of both sides appealing to us like we're some kind of international Big Brother is part of the problem. Every President wants to be the Humanitarian Diplomat Who Brings Peace To The Middle East. Unfortunately all they do is get caught in more of the same old same old of false starts, broken promises, roadmaps to nowhere and outright lies by both sides.

[yankees]

Forget the settlements, the real issue is Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas and the right of Israel to exist. Also, give Israel a "REAL" sense of security.
I think Israel is using the settlements as a trump card which they trade for the above.
The other key is helping the economy of the West Bank to succeed, Gaza can wait until Hamas turns back the government to the PA.

[murphy80]

the ball is in bibi's court

[Tulu]

Ethiopia: Netanyahu slams Israeli school ban on Ethiopia Jews:

http://ecadforum.com/blog/2009/08/30/ethiopia-netanyahu-slams-israeli-schools/

[jordanispalestine]

He wants them to get educated..­.the opposite of Hamas' "leadership''unless it's only Hamas-style propaganda!!

[smiles123]

I have no idea how long the problem has existed with these schools but the timing of the Netanyahu's outrage is interesting. Better later than never I guess.

[CarlyHope]

what areyou talking about. its 3 schools. an isolated incident

[jordanispalestine]

I would remind daffy..er.­.ah baffy that every POTUS and every Congress since Israel was founded in 1948 has voted to give Israel aid...beca­use they ALL believe it is in the national interest of the USA to do that ! So has every Sec of Defense ! Surely the rich Arab oil states have the money to buy them off...but they put our national interest ahead of that!!

[jordanispalestine]

Doesn't look like Abbas has missed any meals lately! Maybe Dan Marino can get him on nutri-system!!

[jordanispalestine]

In the meantime his "people" get the scraps from his table!

[jordanispalestine]

Ought to be real cute when BIBI meets a man who wrote his college thesis on Holocaust denial...t­hat would be Abbas!!

[stevepasek]

Hmmm...Oba­ma should probably wear some sort of rain poncho at that meeting, because it is going to turn into a food fight sooner or later....i­f he manages to get Israel to abide by the Road Map and dismantle settlements, even if it's only those which are outside the current Berlin Wall of the Middle East, it will be a major step forward.

There are two main problems as I see it. The control of water resources and the discontiguous borders of a Palestinian controlled area. Only Israel can change those issues.

I believe that the Palestinian Authority, or at least those Palestinian elements which they control, would very much trade peace for land, as long as it includes unimpeded water, without which the land is worthless.

Anything is possible this time, since these are not two sworn enemies like the last time. Arafat and Sharon were like Batman and the Joker going all the way back to Sabra and Shatila http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre) , there was no way these guys would ever reach an agreement.

If Obama manages to get them talking sensibly, I repeat, anything can happen. This situation has reached the point that it's an economic albatross for both parties, and there might be a solution that would include international peacekeeper troops, particularly including Arab League countries and EU countries.

[JerryLevy]

Calling the security barrier erected by Israel the "Berlin Wall of the Middle East" is a huge misnomer and fabrication. The Berlin wall was erected to keep the E. Germans from leaving that country. It was purely set up to establish a prison which would enable the Comunists to stay in power---it was not erected to stop any violence. The Israeli security barrier or the "wall" as I prefer to call it was reluctantly erected only after repeated suicide terror attacks by the Palestinians against Israelis in discos, restaurants, buses, and Temples. Thousands of men, women and children were murdered with the complete support of the Palestinian political establishment, Palestinian Media, and Palestinian clergy. Many schools and government buildings on the West Bank and Gaza are named ofter suicide terrorists. Palestinian hatred and violence was the source of the Israeli Wall.

[baffy]

"Thousands of men women and children were murdered". Your numbers are ridiculous. Quote some factual numbers please.

As regards the "wall", nobody object to Israel building a wall. However, they should do so only on their land. The "wall" is not just a barrier it is part of a massive illegal land-grab and is universally condemned.

[Goefel]

Numbers tell the story. B'Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights shows from
September 29, 200 to December 26, 2008 the death toll of Palestinians is 4791 fatalities, not all are terrorists­.This number excludes the Gaza killings in Jan 2009 (about 1500 persons). Two-thirds of the Gazans were women and children. That is pretty a shameful record in most people's account.

Don't take my word for it, see B'Tselem:
http://www.btselem.org/english/statistics/Casualties.asp

Graphs of the comparisons of fatalities:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/nyt-report.html

[Whitley2009]

Does our POTUS realize he will be between a Cobra and a Mamba? I wouldn't get near those two lying sonsu.vb.itches.

[jordanispalestine]

That's "mongoose" not mamba,which is another kind of snake!!

[jordanispalestine]

How about this: would you get near Bush and Cheney in the same room??

[GrumpyinAZ]

"Negotiate" Abbas was installed by the CIA with the backing of Israeli Airstrikes and Artillery. Fatah sold it's souls

[eileenflemingWAWA]

Secretary of State Clinton announced in May that the Obama administration, “wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions­...and we intend to press that point.”

In June Obama held a press conference with Abbas and said, “I told Prime Minister Netanyahu that each party has obligations under the road map. On the Israeli side those obligations include stopping settlement­s...Obviou­sly, Prime Minister Netanyahu has to work these issues in his own government­.”

Under international law ALL the settlements are illegal as is The Wall where ever it is not on the Green Line.

“Although the Obama Administration may truly desire viable two-state solution and even understands all Israel’s tricks, it is also clear that without significant pressure it cannot be achieved. Israel’s trump card has always been Congress, where it enjoys virtually unanimous bi-partisan support. “-Jeff Halper, "NETANYAHU CHOOSES WAREHOUSING"

While I was in Jerusalem in June 2009, Jeff Halper, American Israeli, Founder+Coordinator of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions/ICAHD, told me:

"Congress has always been Israel's trump card and the democrats have been more pro-Israel than the republicans.

"Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the problem, not Netanyahu.

"When you meet with your congressional reps ask them how their uncritical support for Israel-and what is seen throughout the world as a USA-Israeli occupation of Palestine can possibly be in the best interest of America."

[JerryLevy]

Under what international law is it illegal for Israel to defend its people against wanton murderers? Just out of curiosity, is suicide terror illegal?

[mjeffn]

Interesting approach.