Obama Endorses 1967 Border For Palestinian State

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

... Now the sticking point is the involvement of Hamas in Palestinian politics, which I find it ironic since the Jewish terrorist group known at the Stern Gang (officially known as Lehi) in the 1930s and 1940s eventually became part of Israeli politics.

Well, sort of, initially the newly independent Israel banned them for their terrorist activities. Despite this, they won one seat in the Knesset '49 and none in '51. After being granted amnesty they disavowed the use of violence and essentially disbanded as a political organization shortly after the '51 election - though several of their former members played prominent roles in Israeli politics for many years.

The Hamas, however, retains its coherent political organization and has, of yet, to disavow violence or: those portions of its charter calling for the destruction of Israel; the denial of the Holocaust; and the claim that the Protocols of Zion are an accurate depiction of an international Jewish plot.
If I were an Israeli, I too would be nervous at having these violent crackpots as my next door neighbor.

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

To me it seems that our role in the mid-east peace negotiations has always been to put pressures on the Palestinians. It seems that finally we are putting pressure on Israel. Personally, the quicker this gets settle the better it will be for us. We spend a ton of money supporting Israel, and our foreign relations with many countries is affected because of this alliance. I think it is right that the US is putting pressure on both the Palestinians and the Israelis to settle this issue once and for all.

Not much pressure, but some and, I agree, that is a good thing.