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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Cliff May :: Townhall.com Columnist
Are Two States a Solution?
by Cliff May
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How does Israel make peace with those who hold such views and regard compromise by other Palestinians not just as an error but as an apostasy? How does the United States facilitate a peace process under such circumstances? No one knows. President Bush and his peace processors did not. President Obama and his peace processors do not.

What we should, however, know by now is what does not work: appeasement; pretending that Hamas and Iran's rulers don't mean what they say; deluding ourselves into believing that because we would prefer to live in peace, so must our enemies (if only we would address their "legitimate grievances"); refusing to recognize that rewarding extremism and terrorism is a loser's game.

Next week, Israel's new Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, comes to Washington to meet with America's new President, Barack Obama. They will agree on goals but they are likely to disagree sharply on how to achieve them.

Obama can be expected to point out that there is now a unique opportunity for Israel to find common ground with Arab neighbors who are alarmed over the prospect of an expanding and power-hungry Iranian (read: not Arab), Shia (read: not Sunni) empire. Obama will add that to take advantage of this circumstance requires lowering the flame on the Palestinian front.

My guess is that Netanyahu will say that Israel cannot continually make tangible concessions in exchange for empty promises followed by terrorist attacks. Yes, Israel does need to "work toward a two-state solution," but with the recognition that two states are no solution if one of them seeks the extermination of the other.

Netanyahu may further argue that so long as Hamas wields power in Gaza and is making inroads on the West Bank, and so long as the Islamic Republic is backing Hamas and Hezbollah, pulling Syria's strings, tightening its grip on Lebanon, sponsoring terrorism and developing nuclear weapons, peace will remain as elusive as a mirage in the Judean Desert - which Hamas also claims. Joe Biden may not like Netanyahu saying that; on the other hand, he just might recognize that it has the ring of truth.

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About The Author

Clifford D. May is the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

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Reply # 1
Date: May 15, 2009 - 10:33 PM EST
By the way ...
than remotely possible a viable solution to American dependence on Foreign oil through gasoline additives and/or substitutes. Doctors at Tel Aviv University are months away from a faster and more reliable method to detect breast cancer. These and other technologies and techniques will soon be available to the U.S. and Arabs in the will benefit, as well. Regardless of the way Israel gets bullied by the "Palestinians and the rest of the world,She has done so much for the Arab people in the area such as doctors performing open heart surgery on children who would die with out it, and sharing its resources such as water and electricity. And Israel does this and more for its unfriendly neighbors.
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Reply # 2
Date: May 15, 2009 - 10:07 PM EST
Let's get a few facts straight, folks!
In case most of you have forgotten, the land of Israel belonged to the Jews since approximately 2500 B.C. until 73 A.D., when they were routed from their country by the Romans. There is no such county as Palestine and threre never was! It is a name mistakenly given to the area because the Romans had no name for the Land of the Phillistines, known as Phillistia, So the Romans dubbed it Palestinium, instead! From Paalestinium came the name Palestine! It's amazing that the Jews lived in the area, known as Israel for over for over 3500 years and have continued to if not for the Romans. The land never belonged to any indigenous arab people. It is, for all practical intents and purposes, Jewish land ... Israel! In 1948, The Jewiah people accomplished the feat of taking back that which rightfully -- THEIRS.
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