I got my hopes up about the peace process in 2000 and I wound up feeling like an idiot, so I am basically biased against even the idea of having hope. No one wants to be justifiably criticized for an inability to learn from one’s mistakes. Yet, I do sometimes find myself tempted to believe again.
JERUSALEM — A full and final peace agreement overcoming the obstacles that have foiled past negotiators is still possible within the nine-month calendar set for U.S.-brokered talks, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Friday.
“We’re not talking at this point about any shifts,” Kerry said, following two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
The goal remains a complete deal this spring that settles borders of an independent Palestinian state and resolves other long-standing issues in the six-decade conflict, Kerry said before leaving Israel for Vietnam.
A peace deal in the Middle East is desperately needed for its own sake, but I can’t imagine what it would mean for domestic politics.
Yeah, it’s probably not going to happen.
I’ve got your “hope” right here:
Wow.
that is obnoxious but I don’t think it has much geopolitical significance.
Points off for tonguing rocks.
I think it does because it reflects settlers’ opinions and at least 40% of israeli’s.
Oh, the C word in all it classic manifestations comes to mind —— frightening and disturbing.
not going to happen. The Israelis don’t want peace, they want to win and keep all the land.
This is one of those topics I file under: I’ll read about it when it’s history.
It all depends on how fast the boycott, divest, sanction movement grows in the US. And it is gaining momentum, sort of like the way the pressure was ratcheted up on South Africa before Mandela’s release.
Max Bluemnthal’s Goliath is also changing US and US Jewish opinion.
Kerry might be right but for the wrong reasons. It would help if the US were to mention that $3 billion annual budget on occasion, seeing how Food Stamps and Unemployment Insurance in the US are being cut.
I hope the boycott, divest and sanction movement spreads like wildfire.
I believe that the current leadership has exposed itself for what it is, and I think the tide has started to turn.
Call me an optimist, but that gives me hope.
As a Jewish American, the divest movement is something I could get excited about. When’s the next protest; I’m there!
Any such deal would be a tremendous accomplishment.
It would also not be anything close to the end of the story. Just look at the “good faith” with which Israel implemented its obligations under the Oslo accords. A large segment of the Israeli government will work actively against any peace agreement, and a not small portion is dedicated to the annihilation of Palestine as their preferred “solution.” That’s not going to be changed by a piece of paper.
This.
The current head of the Israeli government basically took the Oslo Accords, shat on them, put them through a wood shredder, and then burned them. He doesn’t want a Palestinian state. And the Israelis who voted for his party and the others in his coalition don’t either. I don’t know how any Palestinian leader could take him seriously as a partner; he would clearly just be looking for an opportunity for a fringe Palestinian group to make trouble to then call off the whole thing, blaming the Palestinians, and putting the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution.
I really want to believe that peace is possible, but I just don’t see Israel as it currently stands facing the need to tell most of the settlers that they’re going to have to move. I’m not sure the proper political coalition exists in Israel right now to be able to weather the storm after an agreement long enough to actually implement it. There will be violent opposition to ANY agreement on both sides, and you need majorities on both sides prepared to put a little more faith and little more patience in the other side than in the violent people on their own side for a few years for the dust to settle. That’s a lot to expect under the best of circumstances. I don’t know when the best of circumstances ever existed in the Middle East, but I sure don’t think it’s now.
Yes, if by “peace” you mean the total recognition of Israel’s possession and ownership of the West Bank. The West Bank = Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to the mind of the Israelis, and I believe that to be immutable.
I will gladly eat my words if proven wrong.
I realize one of John Kerry’s chief functions as top US diplomat is to
maintain friendly relations with the lunatics in Israel and Saudi Arabiakeep hope alive, but srsly? Not going to happen.The final irony
Hilarious, because.
Has the US called an end to the Vietnam “conflict?”
Aren’t we officially still at war with N. Korea?
“Officially?” Hmm
No entiendojIyajbe’NSA Sent home talking points for employees to use with family & friends during the holidays.
Government waste, fraud, and abuse.
… is the billions we send these evil apartheid bastards – money taken from the mouths of starving American kids so these neocon nazis can build more nukes. And their attitude is total hostility and entitlement towards the US – they spy on us – they spend the very money we give them to try to game our political system. It’s SO APPALLING. And it’s so transparently obvious to the rest of the world that they hate us – thinking us either stupid, grotesquely evil, or both.
Secretary Kerry is very dedicated and serious about greater Middle-East peace, equal to no other US official before him. My analysis has been it’s not standing alone but part of the quadruple effort:
If John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov illustrate their determination …
STEP 1 – Resolve CW issue on Syria
STEP 2 – Arms embargo and a political solution for Syria
STEP 3 – Resolve nuclear issue of Iran with president Rouhani
STEP 4 – Finalize a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine
Obama made a courageous decision stepping away from 35 years of biased US policy on the Middle East. Angry Arab states Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar plus Turkey and Israel. Praise from Russia, Iran and Iraq (Maliki). At the moment, new alliances are formed between Arab/Gulf states, Turkey and yes, Iran. Today’s adversary is tomorrow’s economic partner.
It’s a juggling act where there are few partners for peace and many more antagonists.
Continued in my new diary here >>.