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All that slumdog says is correct. Abbas is also on record as saying that a future Palestinian state would be free of Jews. Peaceful coexistence?

I agree that it would be a good thing if Netanyahu were voted out at the upcoming election. However, what exactly have the Palestinians done lately to show the Israelis that they are genuinely interested in a peaceful two-state solution?

naruhodo1 thank you for being polite. I'm from Lebanon and listen to and watch Arabic media as well as European/American media. You would be amazed at the difference between what the Palestinian leaders (and other Arabs) say in their own language and what they say for an English-speaking audience. I have also taught in schools in both Lebanon and Israel and if you want to see the power of brainwashing, just get hold of an Arabic textbook which refers to Israel or Jews.

Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I remember hearing last week at the UN, in a speech about Israel and the Palestinians, Abbas never once uttered the word "Jew" or "Jewish." An example of his Jew-free view of the history of Israel/Palestine: "I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) …"

Two Israeli peace proposals, in 2000 and 2008 met almost all of the Palestinians' demands for a state in the areas won by Israel in the 1967 war — in the West Bank, Gaza and even East Jerusalem. But Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected the first offer and Abbas ignored the second, for the same reason their predecessors rejected the 1947 Partition Plan - accepting a Palestinian State meant accepting the Jewish State, a concession they were unwilling to make.

Ghassan Khatib, director of government media for the PA and spokesman for Abbas said in an interview that the Palestinians do not recognise Israel as the Jewish state. There is no Jewish people, he said, so how could there be a Jewish country? Then of course there's Hamas...

The problem's not primarily about settlements or borders or the host of other reasons people bring up. It's down to one question. Why can't the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state? If they did this, in word and deed, there would be peace.

Last week the PLO’s ambassador to Lebanon, Abdullah Abdullah, told the Lebanese Daily Star that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of a U.N.-recognized Palestinian state…

This would not only apply to refugees in countries like Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”

Abdullah said that the new Palestinian state would “absolutely not” be issuing Palestinian passports to refugees…

“When we have a state accepted as a member of the United Nations, this is not the end of the conflict. This is not a solution to the conflict. This is only a new framework that will change the rules of the game.”

Palestinians are asking for official recognition. Yet they have consistently failed to recognize the State of Israel. There appears to be no pressure from those who support the Palestinian bid to try and persuade the Palestinians to recognize Israel. Why not?

After the 1948 war, the West Bank became part of Jordan and Egypt took control of Gaza. Why was there no thought then in Egypt or Jordan (or anywhere else in the wider Arab world) of creating a Palestinian state?

Palestinians could have had statehood in the past, most recently in 2000 or 2008, offered by Barak and Olmert.

They could have had a neighbouring Palestinian state in the equivalent of the territory taken by Israel in the 1967 War, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.

Why did they reject these (not to mention earlier) offers of statehood and yet now that's the very thing they're asking of the UN?

The Middle East war is not now and never was a conflict between Israelis/Jews on the one hand and Palestinians on the other. In fact, the Arab-"Palestinians", while currently the perpetrators of most of the anti-Jewish atrocities, were never a very important part of the conflict. In fact, before about 1970, virtually no one in the world considered the Middle East conflict to be one between Israelis and Palestinians.

The term "Palestinian" itself had referred to Israeli Jews back in the 1940s, and had been slowly deconstructed and redefined to refer to the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. The Middle East Conflict was always a war by Arabs against Jews, not a conflict between Israelis and "Palestinians." The war was repackaged as a conflict between Jews and Palestinians as a public relations gimmick by the Arab fascist regimes. These regimes had never had any interest in "Palestinians," in creating a "Palestinian" state, or in "Palestinian nationalism" before 1967. That is because Palestinian nationalism did not and DOES NOT exist. The Palestinians were a regional group of Arabs having virtually no cultural nor national distinctive traits separating them from Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians. They are all basically Arabs!.

The bulk of what are called "Palestinian Arabs" are members of families who migrated into the Land of Israel beginning in the late 19th century. Palestinian nationalism is a mislabeling of Arab nationalism. Arab nationalism exists, although it is closely bound up with Islamic nationalism and even Islamism. Palestinian nationalism, however, is a phantom. It is nothing more than genocidal hatred of Jews!

The Arab assaults and aggressions against Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1968, and 1973 had nothing to do with Palestinians. The Palestinian terror campaign would itself be easy to suppress today and eradicate if the Middle East conflict were really a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel would simply obliterate the terrorists and expel their supporters to Syria and Lebanon. The Middle East war continues because it is really an Arab-Israeli war, not an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I

Hamas will recognise Israel???

Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil’s has said the bid could be dangerous as it may force an official recognition of the state of Israel.

Hamas officials have repeatedly refused to recognise Israel, calling for the destruction of the Jewish state on numerous occasions. In July we had Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar proclaim that ‘Palestine means Palestine in its entirety, and Israel cannot exist in our midst’.

In June he stated that as a ‘matter of principle’ Hamas will never relinquish ‘a single inch of the Palestinian land’.

Following the announcement of the Fatah-Hamas unity deal in May, a Hamas cleric claimed that: ‘In just a few years, all the Zionists and the settlers will realize that their arrival in Palestine was for the purpose of the great massacre, by means of which Allah wants to relieve humanity of their evil.’

Hamas recognition of Israel is obviously just round the corner.

The PLO ambassador in Lebanon Abdullah Abdullah said in an interview Wednesday with Lebanon's Daily Star, in the event that the UN recognizes some form of Palestinian statehood at the UN, the new "State of Palestine" will still expect the UN to support the so-called Palestinian "refugees." This is true, he said, even for the "refugees" who live in Gaza and the West Bank. That is, the same UN that the Palestinians seek recognition of statehood from will be expected to provide relief to Palestinian "refugees" living inside of "Palestine." As he put it, "Even Palestinian refugees living in refugee camps inside the Palestinian state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens." So if nothing will change on the ground, why do the US and the EU care what the Palestinians do at the UN next week with their automatic General Assembly majority?

Israel did not steal the land.

In 1967, when the three noes declaration came forth from Khartum, Israel would have had every right to annexe the West Bank. The opportunity was lost, and Moshe Dayan's magnanimity towards the Arab nations that did their best to destroy Israel, was repaid in the manner to which we have become accustomed. What a tragic error of judgement, for which Israel pays the price every day. Which other country would, or has, relinquished territory won in a defensive war against genocidal enemies for nothimg in return? Answer---none.

The military wing of Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades is certainly not a peace-seeking entity (read its reaction to the death of obl).Abu Mazen himself has repeatedly said his people will never accept Israel as a Jewish state. This is of course also in Hamas' charter. Why on earth should Israel sit down with people who refuse to even recognise her right to exist? Shouldn't some of the pressure from France and eslewhere be on these groups to recognise Israel?

Why does no-one insist that Mr Abbas engage seriously in a meaningful peace process by unambiguously renouncing – in English AND Arabic – his repeated claims that his people will never accept Israel as a Jewish state?

As for certain world leaders expressing hope that Hamas will assume a peaceful posture, have we seen even a tiny sign that that may happen?

Where is the condemnation from the Arab world at these killings; the kind of condemnation that fills comment pages and the rest of the media when such killings are linked to the West and Israel?

Farid Ghadry, the exiled leader of the Reform Party of Syria sent out a mass email yesterday titled, “Where is your Syrian Humanitarian Flotilla, Erdogan?” in reference to the Turkish leader who is again organizing a flotilla full of Ha mas sympathizers, set to sail soon for Ga za.

Ghadry writes:

“Are Ga zans better people than Syrians? Is Assad too dear a friend for you to bother? And where are the Hamas Pal estinians who seem to forget everyone else’s tragedy except their own? Where are their voices? Never expect Syrians to come to your aid again.

“And where is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? What kind of leader is governing over Makah and Medina who is afraid of his own shadow?

“Where are all the Arab leaders and the Arab League? The cowards hosting dinners to celebrate their fat bank accounts while our people die in front of their eyes?”

Given the amount of coverage by this paper following the damning Goldstone Report on Ga za, any chance there'll be a mention of the fact that he's now admitted he was wrong?

What about the plight of Palestinians elsewhere? Shouldn't action be taken against Leba non too?

Excellent post Wolfpack.

Students will not have to pay any fees up front. Parents will not be presented with a bill for tuition. After graduating, and only when earning over 21,000 pounds, will people start to repay the loan, at very low interest, and very slowly. As the taxpayer is no longer able to finance the higher education of such a high percentage of school leavers, this doesn't seem like such a bad alternative.

**you can't just take something that is not yours

The West Bank and Gaza were occupied for 19 years and no-one batted an eyelid.

Could someone explain who exactly the Palestinians are and what the Jews who lived in the region were called before the creation of the State of Israel?

There is no language known as Palestinian.

There is no distinct Palestinian culture.

There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians.

Israel's action on the "peace" boat causes trouble in the UK:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/israel-just-making-it-easier-for-guardian-readers-to-look-good-201006012778/

For more information on just how badly food and building materials are "needed", read here: http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001114.html