'A large majority of Israelis understand that Tel Aviv needs to make dramatic concessions if the government truly wants to end the conflict with the Palestinians. Yet on the other hand, this same majority is opposed to making the same concessions to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. So the mantra goes, "we want peace in the West Bank, but we are unwilling to engage constructively with the 1.5 million Palestinians living under a Hamas-run authority."'

This makes perfect sense to me. Yes, it is not surprising that 'A large majority" wants to end the conflict, but ti's not surprising that they do not want to work with Hamas - a group that is doing all that it can to kill as many innocent Israelis as possible.

What you do not understand is that it's not that the Israelis do not want to make peace with the '1.5 million Palestinians living' in Gaza, they just know that Hamas ain't a'gonna make peace with THEM. It takes a partner in peace to MAKE peace, and Hamas is not going to do that anytime soon - by their OWN statements.

'This would surely be a recipe for disaster, because even if the current Israeli Government were to somehow strike a deal with the Palestinian Authority, the fate of over 1 million Palestinian civilians living in Gaza is still left in the air.'

Yep, but what do YOU suggest otherwise? Israel has been said to not be a partner in peace, yet they have asked three times in as many months for peace talks, right? If they can make peace with Abbas, then at least the ol' canard that Israel does not want peace can be put to rest.

'Unfortunately, this policy is nothing but a dismal failure.'

Nope, because this is the best that they can do. What - you want them to HELP Hamas be successful in Gaza? You want Israel to in-effect HELP Hamas kill Israeli citizens? That would sure be an enlightened thing to do, but the Israeli electorate worries more about their lives than being enlightened and Buddha-like.

'More importantly, Israel's current actions (notwithstanding the flotilla incident last week) are pushing Hamas further from the negotiating table.'

A laughable opinion. Yes, as if your reality that if Israel did not treat Hamas so harshly this means that they would be closer to making peace!? HA!!!! Are you opining or is this a comedy schtick!?

Hamas CONSTANTLY states how they plan to destroy all of Israel and kill all Israelis. It's no secret. They've not moderated their tone, at best they have stated that they would be for a 10 year truce, which then they would use as a "tactic" for acting out their goals.

Stick to blogging - leave the actual decision-making to those that have a horse in this race and who care to be aware of the facts.

Right. Got it.

There are over a thousand tunnels operating, each bringing in everything from cereal for breakfast to whole lambs. There are tonnes upon tonnes NGO-related food that feeds 80% of Gazans. it's a lie that Israel is starving anyone. That people are starving is related to the blockade, to be sure - but that's not the regular issue. Have you not seen the pictures of the markets? The restaurants and cafes?

Why not tell the truth, or learn a bit so that you can learn the truth?

"And then Israel shoots and kills people at will from the air by American jets"

Yes, after dropping hundreds of thousands of warnings before they drop bombs. After millions of text-messages and robo-calls. After dropping first dummy bombs. Yes. You're right. War is hell. Maybe Hamas should not cause war?

"kills families at the beach" You mean this one? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_beach_explosion_%282006%29

Seems that there's no definitive answer for that one, 'eh?

"kills divers in the ocean" Yeah? You mean this? "The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militant splinter group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said the four men killed were members of its marine unit. In one statement, the group said the men were on a training mission,..."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575292040235565562.html

All of your quotes are like this - as if all of these people are just 100% innocent with Israel the 100% aggressor.

Dishonesty or ignorance is not the path to go on in order to solve this problem, and you're either dishonest or ignorant - either way, not good.

khan seems to believe there is a contradiction between Israel's support for the relatively peaceful and economically developing West Bank region and the backward, fiercely anti-Zionist thugocracy of Gaza.

Hamas may have been elected democratically, but it is not a democratic government. Hamas won largely because of a protest vote against Fatah corruption. Once in power, however, Hamas proceeded to arrest and even kill opposition Fatah figures. Amidst the chaos of the Israeli incursion in 2009, Hamas operatives actually went into hospital rooms and shot Fatah patients. Hamas has muzzled or killed writers and journalists who criticize it and generally acted like a fascist regime. One wonders what kind of gluttons for punishment the Gazans must be, to have chosen such miscreants to rule over them. And they hate Israel on top of all that--the word "masochism" comes to mind here.

Hamas' entire history has been one of violent confrontation with the Jewish state. It was a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians and Israel regularly targeted its leadership for assassination. Elevated by the hapless Gaza voters into high office, they have not changed their charter or their rhetoric at all.

Under these circumstances, it's ridiculous to assume Israel should relax its own standards and begin negotiating with Hamas. Why can't Hamas at least recognize that Israel exists, is a legitimate and permanent entity in the region, and offer to talk? Could it be that Hamas' power stems from its stance of violent opposition, and were it to compromise and talk to the enemy, it would dissolve from within?

Hamas has no incentive to deal with Israel. Firstly, it gets paid by Iran and others to "resist", no "resistence"=no money=no weapons and baksheesh to spread around=no Hamas. Secondly, there is no reason to deal with Israel, it can stay intransigent whilst the world makes excuses for it.

Finally as you point out, where there is no Hamas there is economic growth, stability and peace. Is it that hard to work out where the problem lies?

If Gaza is an open air prison:

1. It is Hamas that has made it so by rocketing Israeli civilians and threatening Egypt's stability.

2. It is maintained by Arab Egypt as well as Jewish Israel.

You were saying....

If Netanyahu wanted to "expand territory", they'd simply do it. They'd not have a building moratorium, they'd not limit building to already held land - there's not been any new land taken in years.

So. You're wrong. A victim mentality which uses lies, distortions and propaganda in the stead of truth, logic and reality.

So few remember that former P.M. Sharon withdrew from Gaza unilaterally, forcibly removed Jewish residents, and gave sovereignty back to the Arabs.

Only in the topsy turvy bizarro world of Middle East liberal political correctness can such an act be deemed a "land grab".

And only a liberal Israel hater would characterize Israel's delivery of 15,000 tons per week of humanitarian goods (not to mention electricity and water) to Gaza a "strangulation", especially after enduring thousands of rocket attacks from that miserable strip of land.

We keep hearing how Israel wants to "expand territory"... how do you reconcile this claim with the fact that since 1982 - nearly 30 years - Israel hasn't conquered a single mm of new land. How do you reconcile this claim with Israel pulling out of Sinai, out of Gaza and out of South Lebanon to the mm - as certified by the UN. Given how patently false these claims are then either you are aiming to insult everyone's intelligence by making these claims or your intelligence is so low it is incapable of being insulted.

the world will make more sense!

But I don't remember Israel trying to take over Jordan.

he series starts Yemek Tarifleri with an egregious misstatement of Resimli Yemek Tarifleri reality in the introduction setting up the articles that follow: "When Iranians took to the streets the day after they cast their ballots for president, the Western media was presented with a sweeping, dramatic story....

Yes, Israel is paranoid--after many invasions and countless incursions and suicide attacks against it, after dozens of United Nations resolutions singling out Israel whilst ignoring the true atrocities of the world, after many Iranian pronouncements of Israel's impending "erasure from history" and Iran's frenetic development of nuclear devices and delivery systems, they are rather entitled to feel a bit paranoid.

When you can't attack the facts attack the messenger. You have evidence that most Israelis DON'T back the government on this? No? Didn't think so.

Israelis know the facts - and thus they back their govt in this issue. International gadflies and useful idiots don't care about the facts and thus they think Israel should roll over for the thugs and murderers that run Gaza.
Here is a typical piece of utter bs:
"after conducting the botched attack on the Gaza flotilla aid ship, the world finally did turn on Israel."
hahahahaha
"attack"? Not at all - they did not "attack anyone with paintball guns.
"finally did turn on Israel"? My god - the world turned on Israel very long ago and in every single instance presumes that Israel is wrong and that the Arabs are right. Only a complete ignorant loon would not recognize this obvious fact.

I get a little puzzled by these people who think that Israelis are stupid robots who soak up their goverment's propaganda, but rush to "understand" the Palestinians or in the case the Turkish IHH for often indefensible behaviour.

As in the US under Bush, the Israeli media is mostly against the gov't.

The Israeli population has simply moved to the right since the Gaza withdrawal and the resulting chaos.

Deliah has never been to Gaza, Israel, or the West Bank, so its easy for her to make totally inaccurate and wild statements. She's what we call a F O O L.

Public opinion is changing. Israel’s political capital has diminished. Nobody thinks of it as a social democratic paradise anymore. He then enumerated the tasks before the movement and they were in total agreement with the plan laid out by Adam Shapiro days earlier, more boats and more focus on the BDS campaign. iowa home insurance He said that a Viva Palestina convoy, the biggest yet, will be leaving London in mid-September, going through Europe to the Middle East, and entering Gaza through Rafah. Simultaneously, a large new flotilla will be sailing through the North Atlantic into the Mediterranean and on to Gaza. The different interlocking elements in this struggle will all work together and reinforce each other. “There can be no peace between truth and falsehood, between tyranny and justice, between freedom and oppression. There can only be eternal struggle between them until justice is won and freedom prevails.” massachusetts home insurance This is what we need now. Without justice and freedom there will be no peace in Palestine. If there is no peace there, there will be no peace in the Middle East and in the rest of the world.

"If the world decided to punish the Israeli people for supporting the terrorist government of Netenyahu and imposed a blockade on Israel depriving it from basics of life, what would be the Israelis' reaction."

This is the age-old canard where someone will rationalize war crimes. They change the subject in order to pretend that it's not surprising that Hamas and their terrorist friends are not committing a war crime with every attack on innocent Israelis.

Would Israel just indiscriminately attack innocent people? Who knows or who cares? The point is that Hamas is doing it TODAY, and all of your effort to mitigate or transfer blame is not helping the Pals in Gaza at all.

And, if you want to talk about "free elections", maybe you should spend some time talking about how Hamas booted Fatah out of the West Bank, stole the government from them... But, to do that would be difficult to do and STILL blame Israel, 'eh?

Can't be that desparate because they refused to let in that aid that apparently the Mamara was so desparate to deliver.

It seems that some of Israel fanatics see nothing bad in Israel. If an Israeli is killed, it is a crime and a terrorist act. If an Israeli committed a crime, it was an act of self-defense. That is why; they could not see that Israel occupied others' lands. They failed to see what Israel had done in Jenin or Gaza. And they now could not see what they have done to some peace activists who wanted to prevent Israel from imprisoning 2 million people in order to punish Hamas.
They could not imagine that the world could punish them for their deeds. Simply, it is vanity incarnated.

your wife's face for dressing inappropriately? Is that what Mohamed told you to do?

riots and murders over CARTOONS!!!!

Hamas is not increasing its role. It is virtually non-existent in the West Bank and only runs its own little bit of Gaza because the world won't allow Israel to finish it off like it was finished off in the WB.

As for Hamas moderating... this is just insane. We heard the exact same BS from people about Hizbollah in Lebanon. End the occupation and Israel can forget the word Hizbollah, except Israel DID end the occupation - there isn't even the pathetic excuse of a "blockade" to use - and guess what Hizbollah attacked Israel within months of the withdrawal and then repeatedly attacked from 2004 until 2006 when they finally managed to kidnap IDF soldiers on indisputably sovereign Israeli territory.

The imaginative thing to do now for Israel is to say "Withdrawal didn't work, we are retaking Gaza". Don't see that happening anytime soon so we are left with trying to appease Hamas and we can see from NK to Hizbollah to Iran how well appeasement works.

Yeah, it's always the victim's fault It is Hamas who has been rocketing Israeli civilians and justifying it at a time when Israel had withdrawn from Gaza.

Old Arab Proaverb: After punching someone, run away screaming that he assaulted you.

Herzl was 19th and 20th century not 18th.

Hard to argue that "thought of European Jews being killed by Christian Europeans" was "paranoia" given what happened some 40 years later. Maybe you are confusing this word with prescient.

"Jews then should have a place on earth for their own religion" - not what he said, he said there should be a safe place for Jews ie their own homeland due to the fact that no other place would accept Jews.. Again given what would happen in the Middle East and in Europe within 50 years of what he said, hard to argue that statement.

Not sure why you have an issue with someone BUYING someone else's land in a free transaction and having bought that land living on it. I assume when you sell your home you consider the new owner to have "stolen" it?

"Hitler in Germany accelerate the populating effect so that Millions of European Jewish Immigrants" - try less than 300, 000 because the Palestinians led by a guy who would spend WW2 in Berlin helping out on the Holocaust bullied the British into stopping ALL Jewish immigration during their period of greatest need. Maybe you are confusing this with the Millions of European Jews who were **killed*** as a result of this blackmail by the Palestinians.

Overpopulated? After WW2 a grand total of 600,000 Jews lived in the Mandate along side some 1.2 million Arabs. Today the same area supports over 10 million people.

The Jews weren't "stronger" than the natives because most of the natives ran away. If they had been killed then there wouldn't be a Palestinian problem. The Palestinians initiated a war and lost. No more illegal than when Hitler kicked off a war with Russia and lost East Prussia. Apparently this is NOT history you know.

Israel didn't exist in 1945 and in 2010 it is the most technologically advanced country in the Middle East and is the only developed country recognised by OECD in the Middle East. Maybe you are confusing "Backwards Israel" with the Muslim countries.

"No money left" - Israel has a GDP per capita that is higher than every single other Middle Eastern country and once you strip out oil it is in a different league to every single other country in the Middle East. Maybe you are confusing Israel with the Palestinians who are the leaders in world aid, receiving more aid per capita than any other people in the world.

So far the main contribution of the Palestinians to the world has been terrorism, how will the world benefit from more of that? Especially given that most of the Palestinians killed and expelled were not killed or expelled by Israelis but by their muslim and christian bretheren. The only way the dollar will be in better shape is when it means the Palestinians stop getting billions in aid from the US and EU and UN.

I am impressed a post almost completely made up of BS, can't even get the very basic indisputable facts right.

they are just muslim arabs, no different from the majority of jordanians or Syrians. In fact, Jordan is 75% palestinian, and the land was taken from the palestine mandate. The royal family of jordan was put there by Britain after they were kicked out of saudi arabia. So, get rid of the petty king of jordan (take him back to saudi arabia). And, let jordan be the palestinian state, which it already is.

Lay off the personal attacks on Khan. Given his posts, English usages, and his fluency, he is likely an American anti-semite masquerading under a pen name, not a Pakistani and, given some of his usages, perhaps not even a Moslem.

Vilks--don't sink below your usual rational level.