Vanillaangel wrote:

60 Minutes
Has peace in the Middle East become nothing more than a pipe dream? As Bob Simon reports, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians feel that a two-state solution is no longer possible.
January 26, 2009
Video Link

As long as Hamas controls Gaza there is no chance for peace or even a 2-state solution. They have made that clear in their Charter. You should read it. Besides a call to genocide against Jews, they declare that they will not stop until every inch of what we call Israel is an Islamic Waqf, which is another way of saying a Taliban-like totalitarian state.

Read their Charter and tell me how peace is possible:

Call to genocide:
The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to implement Allah's promise, whatever time that may take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until the Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them), until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! Oh Abdullah!, there is a Jew behind me, come on and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."
--(Article 7)

Inspiring Suicide Mass Murder:
"Allah is its goal, The Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Charter, jihad its path, and death for the cause of Allah its most sublime belief." (Article 8).

Opposition to any type of peace process:
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad. All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors." (Article 13).

http://www.acpr.org.il/resources/hamascharter.html


Note that last one, Article 13, in relation to your question: "All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors."

This is what they say. No one is making it up. It is not propaganda. It is what they say. And it is backed up by how they act.

"All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors."

How can there be peace when such people are in control?

Perhaps the Gazan people can overthrow them. Yes, then you can talk about peace or at least a 2-state solution. But the Gazan people have to get rid of Hamas. Of course, since Hamas has executed some 200 Gazan people in the past few weeks and completely overturned democracy it will be difficult to unseat them. But that is what has to be done to even get to square one.

Vanillaangel wrote:

Glorify and enjoy the diversity that makes this world a living tapestry of unique differences that can serve to teach one another, as opposed to inspire one another to kill because there can be only one way to live a life?!

Israel is a very diverse country with just about every religion and ethnic group represented, including Arab, Muslim and of course Christian. Hamas is an extremist Islamist group that has no tolerance for Jews or even non-Arabs, who do not want democracy; only an Islamist theocracy.

Vanillaangel wrote:

I've always wanted to travel to the Holy Land. To feel what the energy of a culture thousands of years older than my own, in the States, has to offer. And yet, the violence and bloodshed make it a frightening thought of a perilous journey.

In Israel you would be allowed to visit pretty much anywhere you wanted. You, of course, would have to worry about terror attacks and missiles from Islamist terror groups, but you would be free to travel and see what you want to see. If you ventured into Gaza you would, as a woman, have no rights, have to dress in accord with Islamist standards, have no real freedom of movement and, especially as an American, have to worry about being abducted.

Vanillaangel wrote:

60 Minutes
Has peace in the Middle East become nothing more than a pipe dream? As Bob Simon reports, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians feel that a two-state solution is no longer possible.
January 26, 2009
Video Link

As long as Hamas controls Gaza there is no chance for peace or even a 2-state solution. They have made that clear in their Charter. You should read it. Besides a call to genocide against Jews, they declare that they will not stop until every inch of what we call Israel is an Islamic Waqf, which is another way of saying a Taliban-like totalitarian state.

Read their Charter and tell me how peace is possible:

Call to genocide:
The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to implement Allah's promise, whatever time that may take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until the Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them), until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! Oh Abdullah!, there is a Jew behind me, come on and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."
--(Article 7)

Inspiring Suicide Mass Murder:
"Allah is its goal, The Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Charter, jihad its path, and death for the cause of Allah its most sublime belief." (Article 8).

Opposition to any type of peace process:
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad. All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors." (Article 13).

http://www.acpr.org.il/resources/hamascharter.html


Note that last one, Article 13, in relation to your question: "All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors."

This is what they say. No one is making it up. It is not propaganda. It is what they say. And it is backed up by how they act.

"All initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavors."

How can there be peace when such people are in control?

Perhaps the Gazan people can overthrow them. Yes, then you can talk about peace or at least a 2-state solution. But the Gazan people have to get rid of Hamas. Of course, since Hamas has executed some 200 Gazan people in the past few weeks and completely overturned democracy it will be difficult to unseat them. But that is what has to be done to even get to square one.

Vanillaangel wrote:

Glorify and enjoy the diversity that makes this world a living tapestry of unique differences that can serve to teach one another, as opposed to inspire one another to kill because there can be only one way to live a life?!

Israel is a very diverse country with just about every religion and ethnic group represented, including Arab, Muslim and of course Christian. Hamas is an extremist Islamist group that has no tolerance for Jews or even non-Arabs, who do not want democracy; only an Islamist theocracy.

Vanillaangel wrote:

I've always wanted to travel to the Holy Land. To feel what the energy of a culture thousands of years older than my own, in the States, has to offer. And yet, the violence and bloodshed make it a frightening thought of a perilous journey.

In Israel you would be allowed to visit pretty much anywhere you wanted. You, of course, would have to worry about terror attacks and missiles from Islamist terror groups, but you would be free to travel and see what you want to see. If you ventured into Gaza you would, as a woman, have no rights, have to dress in accord with Islamist standards, have no real freedom of movement and, especially as an American, have to worry about being abducted.

What is US policy on Israel's settlements??  Dr. Dore Gold, head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, explains..

His main points:

1.    The Obama administration is demanding additional Israeli concessions beyond the 1993 Oslo Accords.

2.    Current settlement activity no longer diminishes Palestinian territory.

3.    The 2005 Gaza disengagement proves that a settler presence does not undermine future territorial compromise.

4.    Does the Obama administration reject defensible borders and settlement blocs and expect Israel to return to the 1967 borders?

To read the full report go to www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp...

A Palestinian State is viable but Israel needs to pull her weight too.

Any critic of a Palestinian State is a support of unnecessary Zionist expansion which makes it perfectly acceptable world wide to systematically uproot a local population establish an encroaching State.