Raise your hand if you're surprised: Romney trashes the two-state solution in Israel.

[Direckshun]

And the melding of the Likud and the GOP is now complete.

We have ourselves now a transnational political party. Any light that existed between these two organizations is now gone.

The GOP, at least its foreign policy wing, is officially led by Benjamin Netanyahu. If it hadn't been already for years, which I suspect it has.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...dle-east-peace

SECRET VIDEO: On Israel, Romney Trashes Two-State Solution
At a private fundraiser, the GOP candidate calls Middle East peace "almost unthinkable" and says he would "kick the ball down the field."
—By David Corn
Tue Sep. 18, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

At the private fundraiser held May 17 where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney candidly spoke about political strategy—noting that he saw half of the American electorate as freeloaders and "victims" who do not believe in personal responsibility—he discussed various foreign policy positions, sharing views that he does not express in public, including his belief that peace in the Middle East is not possible and a Palestinian state is not feasible.

Mother Jones has obtained video of Romney at this intimate dinner and has confirmed its authenticity. The event was held at the home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder in Boca Raton, Florida, with tickets costing $50,000 a plate. During the freewheeling conversation, a donor asked Romney how the "Palestinian problem" can be solved. Romney immediately launched into a detailed reply, asserting that the Palestinians have "no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish."

Romney spoke of "the Palestinians" as a united bloc of one mindset, and he said: "I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there's just no way."

Romney was indicating he did not believe in the peace process and, as president, would aim to postpone significant action: "[S]o what you do is, you say, you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem…and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it."

Romney did note there was another perspective on this knotty matter. He informed his donors that a former secretary of state—he would not say who—had told him there was "a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis." Romney recalled that he had replied, "Really?" Then he added that he had not asked this ex-secretary of state for further explanation.

Here's Romney's full response; he starts out saying he has "two perspectives," but as he answers the question, it turns out that's not really the case:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ukhFBJgrZxM

I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I've had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Now why do I say that? Some might say, well, let's let the Palestinians have the West Bank, and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians. And then come a couple of thorny questions. And I don't have a map here to look at the geography, but the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there, right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital, the industrial capital of Israel, the center of Israel. It's—what the border would be? Maybe seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would be the West Bank…The other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would either be Syria at one point, or Jordan. And of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza. Which is that the Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel. So Israel of course would have to say, "That can't happen. We've got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank." Well, that means that—who? The Israelis are going to patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation? Well, the Palestinians would say, "Uh, no way! We're an independent country. You can't, you know, guard our border with other Arab nations." And now how about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we gonna allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in? And if not, who's going to keep it from coming in? Well, the Israelis. Well, the Palestinians are gonna say, "We're not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what can land in our airport." These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right? And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, "There's just no way." And so what you do is you say, "You move things along the best way you can." You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem. We live with that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it. We don't go to war to try and resolve it imminently. On the other hand, I got a call from a former secretary of state. I won't mention which one it was, but this individual said to me, you know, I think there's a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis after the Palestinian elections. I said, "Really?" And, you know, his answer was, "Yes, I think there's some prospect." And I didn't delve into it.

After saying all that, Romney emphasized that he was against applying any pressure on Israel: "The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world."

On his campaign website, Romney, whose foreign policy advisers include several neocons known for their hawkish support for Israel, does not explicitly endorse the peace process or a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the Republican Party platform does state unequivocal backing for this outcome: "We envision two democratic states—Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine—living in peace and security." The platform adds, "The US seeks a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, negotiated between the parties themselves with the assistance of the US."

In public, Romney has not declared the peace process pointless or dismissed the two-state solution. In July, when the Israeli newspaper Haaretz asked Romney if he supports a two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state, he replied, "I believe in a two-state solution which suggests there will be two states, including a Jewish state." Yet Romney’s remarks to these funders—this was one of his longest answers at the fundraiser—suggest he might be hiding his true beliefs regarding Israel and the peace process and that on this subject he is out of sync with the predominant view in foreign policy circles that has existed for decades.

Throughout the hourlong fundraiser, Romney discussed other foreign policy matters with his patrons, especially Iran. He repeated the tough talk he has issued on the campaign trail, but he also provided an odd reason for drawing a red line with Tehran about its nuclear program:

If I were Iran, if I were Iran—a crazed fanatic, I'd say let's get a little fissile material to Hezbollah, have them carry it to Chicago or some other place, and then if anything goes wrong, or America starts acting up, we'll just say, "Guess what? Unless you stand down, why, we're going to let off a dirty bomb." I mean this is where we have—where America could be held up and blackmailed by Iran, by the mullahs, by crazy people. So we really don't have any option but to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

Romney didn't appear to understand that a dirty bomb—an explosive device that spreads radioactive substances—does not require fissile material from a nuclear weapons program. Such a bomb can be produced with, say, radioactive medical waste. If Iran's nuclear program poses a threat, it is not because this project will yield a dirty bomb.

Talking to these funders, Romney also demonstrated that his campaign-long efforts to criticize Obama's handling of foreign policy in simplistic and exaggerated terms—he's an appeaser, he's an apologist—are not reserved for public consumption. Romney told these well-to-do backers that the president is a naïf with an oversized ego:

The president's foreign policy, in my opinion, is formed in part by a perception he has that his magnetism, and his charm, and his persuasiveness is so compelling that he can sit down with people like Putin and Chávez and Ahmadinejad, and that they'll find that we're such wonderful people that they'll go on with us, and they'll stop doing bad things. And it's an extraordinarily naive perception.

Romney did share a disappointment with his patrons, noting it was "frustrating" to him that on a "typical day" when he does several fundraising events, "the number of foreign policy questions I get are between zero and one." He complained that "the American people are not concentrated at all on China, on Russia, Iran, Iraq." But at this fundraiser, Romney received several queries related to national security—and was afforded the opportunity to tell his financial backers what he does not (and will not) tell the public.

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by Donger

Yes, and now the PA (and more vociferously Hamas) doesn't.

Does the current right-wing Israeli government agree on a Palestinian state's right to exist?

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by Donger

Israel continues to expand settlements because the Palestinians have never proven to be serious about wanting peace. Don't forget that this isn't "stolen" land, despite what others may call it. It was taken in response to being attacked a few times, each time taken in response to hostility.

But the expansions are contradictions to the Oslo Accords. If Israel doesn't care about the Oslo Accords, why do you think the Palestinians should?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Literature

Does the current right-wing Israeli government agree on a Palestinian state's right to exist?

Netanyahu's on record as being fine with a two-state solution, last I heard. That requires acknowledgement from both the PA and Hamas on Israel's right to exist, however. They won't.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Literature

But the expansions are contradictions to the Oslo Accords. If Israel doesn't care about the Oslo Accords, why do you think the Palestinians should?

I don't believe that Israeli settlements were addressed by Oslo.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by Donger

Netanyahu's on record as being fine with a two-state solution, last I heard. That requires acknowledgement from both the PA and Hamas on Israel's right to exist, however. They won't.

You suffer fools better than average~

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by Donger

Netanyahu's on record as being fine with a two-state solution, last I heard.

Where does he recognize the Palestinian state's right to exist?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Literature

Where does he recognize the Palestinian state's right to exist?

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middl...6s16-wome.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke new ground with his speech Sunday. He voiced support for the first time for a Palestinian state. But he also attached a condition that no other Israeli leader has put on peace negotiations: Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

"A fundamental prerequisite for ending the conflict is a public, binding, and unequivocal Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people," argued Mr. Netanyahu, who said the issue lies at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict.Under pressure from the Obama administration to move forward with a two-state solution, the prime minister has complied. But in the process, say Palestinian and Israeli critics, the prime minister has created a new roadblock to Palestinian statehood.

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by Donger

I don't believe that Israeli settlements were addressed by Oslo.

Do you think there were agreements detailing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with Oslo?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Literature

Do you think there were agreements detailing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with Oslo?

Yes, with regard to the IDF being there, IIRC. Like I said, I don't believe Oslo decided anything with regard to settlements.

[go bowe]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Stop launching intifadas and reign in terrorist groups like Hamas.

have there been any recent intifadas?

israel hasn't been able to reign in the terrorist groups like hamas for 50 years or more, how is the weak and demilitarized pa supposed to do it?

if the precondition is reigning in hamas, there will never be any negotiations...

is israel trying to negotiate with the pa or with the terrorists?

the pa is willing to negotiate peace, the terrorists aren't...

[mnchiefsguy]

Originally Posted by Literature

Do you think there were agreements detailing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with Oslo?

It does not appear that the settlements were addressed by the Oslo accords.

http://muftah.org/original-sin-how-t...haled-elgindy/

Given the Palestinians’ persistent demands for an end to Israeli settlement activity and the nearly universal international opposition to it, one might expect to find the terms of a formal settlement freeze spelled out in the Oslo Accords, the first major breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Yet, Oslo made no mention of a settlement freeze—formal or otherwise—and, in fact, deferred the settlement issue altogether until so-called “permanent status” negotiations to be held in five years. Oslo’s failure to address the need for a freeze, and more importantly the PLO’s failure to codify it within the Accords themselves, remains one of the most serious and far-reaching flaws of the Oslo process—the “original sin” that continues to haunt the peace process and the Palestinian leadership to this day.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by go bowe

the pa is willing to negotiate peace, the terrorists aren't...

Considering the last I heard, the PA PM still refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist, no, PA isn't willing to negotiate or compromise.

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by Donger

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middl...6s16-wome.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke new ground with his speech Sunday. He voiced support for the first time for a Palestinian state. But he also attached a condition that no other Israeli leader has put on peace negotiations: Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

"A fundamental prerequisite for ending the conflict is a public, binding, and unequivocal Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people," argued Mr. Netanyahu, who said the issue lies at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict.Under pressure from the Obama administration to move forward with a two-state solution, the prime minister has complied. But in the process, say Palestinian and Israeli critics, the prime minister has created a new roadblock to Palestinian statehood.

Doesn't that seem like "You recognize our right to exist, and then we'll recognize your right to exist."

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Literature

Doesn't that seem like "You recognize our right to exist, and then we'll recognize your right to exist."

No. Israel already acknowledges the right of the Palestinians to exist. What that shows is that Israel was willing to acknowledge and accept a Palestinian state as well.

[mnchiefsguy]

Originally Posted by go bowe

have there been any recent intifadas?

israel hasn't been able to reign in the terrorist groups like hamas for 50 years or more, how is the weak and demilitarized pa supposed to do it?

if the precondition is reigning in hamas, there will never be any negotiations...

is israel trying to negotiate with the pa or with the terrorists?

the pa is willing to negotiate peace, the terrorists aren't...

If the PA wishes to be considered a separate entity from the terrorists, they must unilaterally condemn their terrorist activities, and participate in bringing them to justice.

Has the PA condemned any of Hamas terrorist activities lately? Or ever?