Waves

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel sets terms for Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will back a Palestinian state - but only if it is completely demilitarised.

He said a Palestinian state must have no army, no control of its air space and no way of smuggling in weapons.

In a landmark speech, weeks after the US president urged him to agree a two-state plan, he said the Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state. \

thoughts?

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On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

José

¿lol?

Ego Tripping

We'll see. Either way, even if this doesn't fully go through (yet), I'm stoked to see perseverance in attempts for peace.

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SageTree

Why does Isreal get to keep it's weapons?

Like saying someone isn't allowed to do something be the international body, doesn't mean there will be adherance.

However I agree, steps nearer to something is a step toward working out the details. Who would have thought there'd be talk about this a while ago?

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Waves

yeah i think this is amazing news. its definitely a (small) step in the stabilization of that region.

its really interesting to me to think about the whole modernization of the mid-east, and even other third world areas like africa. those are the nations that are set to see the most change in the next 50 years, as technology increases and all these old weird religious beliefs and hierarchies start to get pushed to the side. just the introduction of cell phones alone made a huge change to those countries.

i was reading this piece on the iranian elections, about how twitter is basically the form of communication now that the government shut down the cell phone network.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.co...ittered-1.html

That a new information technology could be improvised for this purpose so swiftly is a sign of the times. It reveals in Iran what the Obama campaign revealed in the United States. You cannot stop people any longer. You cannot control them any longer. They can bypass your established media; they can broadcast to one another; they can organize as never before.

this is exactly what i have been saying for years. technology is going to save us all. maybe things might change in the mid-east a little sooner than expected?

its actually sort of exciting!

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On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

stoneric

What kind of state can't defend itself? This is a joke.

dubtrice

heres my thoughts....

Israel wants to create "a Palestine State" specifically with no military and the Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state.

If the request is accepted Netanyahu can quickly come up with some BS reason to invade the newly created country and take the rest of the land of Palestinian with little to no military opposition. I wouldnt be surprised if Netanyahu hires troops to fire rockets from the future Palestine into Israel.

If the request is denied, then Israel looks better when they take the rest of Palestine.

Netanyahu wants the future state of Palestine to accept Israel as a Jewish state so any attack on Israel could be called some sort of extremist anti-semetic act and Israel would have an excuse to plow them down, again, with the backing of the United States.

Kishar

any sovereign country should have the right to defend itself. accepting those terms would allow israel to enter palestine anytime they wanted.

israelies and palestinians should unite and give the entire area a new name and be grateful for what GOD gave them. in the west people of all races and religious beliefs live together in peace so why can't they.

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Those Americans who believed that we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American eagle to imitate the tactics of the ostrich. Now, many of those same people, afraid that we may be sticking our necks out, want our national bird to be turned into a turtle. But we prefer to retain the eagle as it is--flying high and striking hard. "FDR"

Waves

the point isnt that its a good deal, the point is that a deal has come into existence. gotta give it some time.

__________________
On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

SageTree

Let's hope

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dubtrice

I don't think this is the kind of deal anyone wants.. its a setup

Kishar

i hate to have defeatists attitude but after 2000 years it's hard not to.

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Those Americans who believed that we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American eagle to imitate the tactics of the ostrich. Now, many of those same people, afraid that we may be sticking our necks out, want our national bird to be turned into a turtle. But we prefer to retain the eagle as it is--flying high and striking hard. "FDR"

Ego Tripping

Doesn't matter how long the hate has been around. Our collective memories don't go back more than 50 years anyway.

If it's a setup...the it won't work and a better deal will have to be made.

Ultimately, peace is beneficial for all in the region. It will be realized, eventually. It's only getting more likely with each effort that is made.

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stoneric

It doesn't qualify as a deal.

verklingen

whoa wtf it's like i just finished stretching and now everyone else is is waking up!!!

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

al-Mu'akhkhir

uh. I don't even see any progression here, it's a pretty blatant attempt by those Zionist idiots to take Palestine.

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verklingen

a hard line of rhetoric has been broken, something that was once unthinkable. how is that not progression?

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

al-Mu'akhkhir

unless they've both agreed on the "deal" proposed above, I would not consider words, or at least that particular string of words "progressive".

Hard line of rhetoric broken or no.

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verklingen

so going from unequivocally insisting that a people has no right to statehood to supporting statehood for that people is not a step forward for you?

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

al-Mu'akhkhir

Yes, if that were the case, it would be a baby-step foreward. Judging by the "demilitarization" part of the deal however, there is likely something much more sinister afoot than sovereignty for Palestine. And I refute your claim that a hard line of rhetoric has been broken.

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