We will agree to disagree, but Barak's statement was made in light of the beginning of the Intifada upon failure of Taba. I will agree with you that Sharon helped start it with his inflamatory walk on the Mount with machine guns. Still, the fact remains that Israelis do hear information on both sides of the issue and there has been a consistent majority for peace. In contrast, Palestinian children are taught to hate the Jews (not just Israelis) and peace is just harder to accomplish when public opinion wants to kill every last Israeli.

We will need someone with an extremely firm hand to go in and try and salvage some combination of Taba and the Saudi offer once Obama comes to power. I hope it will happen.

I still have not heard a response, however, to my initial question. What do you want the Israelis to do if Hamas commits acts of war against it? That is the current issue.

8-01-2009 Geneva (ICRC) – Ambulances in Gaza must be given systematic round-the-clock access to the wounded everywhere in the territory so that they can save as many lives as possible, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, said today.

"Medical emergency personnel, particularly from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, must be granted safe unlimited passage so that they can reach the wounded, treat them and, if necessary, evacuate them to a medical facility," Mr Kellenberger said. Israel has said that it will facilitate humanitarian access to the victims of the conflict in Gaza. This implies granting unrestricted access for ambulances and emergency medical personnel.

"We welcome the daily three-hour suspension of hostilities, which has at least temporarily eased the situation of the civilian population," said Mr Kellenberger. "However, it must be possible to evacuate the wounded at all times, not just during three hours." He added that the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups are obliged under international humanitarian law to do everything possible to search for, collect and evacuate the wounded and sick, without delay, especially in situations where access for ambulances is not granted for security reasons.

International humanitarian law also stipulates that medical personnel, hospitals and other medical units must be respected and protected. The same holds for medical vehicles, such as ambulances, exclusively assigned to helping the wounded and sick. Attacks on medical personnel are prohibited, as are attacks on facilities used exclusively for medical tasks.

"These obligations apply to Israel and to the Palestinian armed groups fighting in Gaza," said Mr Kellenberger. "We have already had cases of wounded people dying because the ambulances couldn't reach them in time. If these fundamental rules of international humanitarian law are not respected more people will die who could have been saved."

http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-israel-news-080109

Touching. A-Mazing. Looney.

Raise your youth to worship death and tutor them in suicide slaughter of innocents. Hey, WHY not give such a sewage dwelling cult a state? Works for the American Left.

I wonder...Is anything more sophisticated than a rug(if that)manufactired in Palestine? Curious.

"Gazans consider themselves Palestinians and believe they have a grievance if Israel continues to expand in the West Bank. See the Op-Ed from Jimmy Carter (who probably did more for Israel's security than any other U.S. President with Camp David) recounting that one of the key impediments to extending the cease-fire was that Hamas wanted it to apply to the West Bank but Israel would only discuss Gaza:"

The right of Israel to create its own a la carte opponent in the territories is rarely questioned. Just why is Israel allowed to seperate Gaza from the West Bank in the first place? Why should it be allowed to claim it has a ceasefire with a fistula of its own creation, while continuing to make war in another part of the region. Its completely illegitimate and nonsensical position.

I can't help you there, but keep an eye on Kagro X - he'll likely ferret out any information that's to be had, and make sense of it, as quickly and clearly as anyone:

http://congressmatters.com/

David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, introduced a similar Resolution - S.Res. 6 - on January 6th (a day before the date on the linked AIPAC Resolution pdf), which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations (headed by John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts):

Whereas the state of Israel is the greatest ally of the United States in the Middle East;

Whereas the Hamas terror organization's charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel;

Whereas Palestinian terrorists of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, recently have fired hundreds of rockets at civilian targets in southern Israel, ending a 6-month ceasefire with Israel, in declaration and in deed;

Whereas, during the 6-month "state of calm", the Government of Israel allowed the entry of approximately 17,000 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplies into the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian terrorists launched 538 rockets and mortars into Israel;

Whereas the latest terrorist attacks on Israel took place only days after the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1850, which unanimously declared support for the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis;

Whereas, since the most recent terrorist attacks and its military operation that began on December 27, 2008, the Government of Israel has allowed the entry of hundreds of truckloads of humanitarian aid supplies into the Gaza Strip, in full coordination with donor Arab countries and international aid organizations, including the Red Cross, out of respect for human rights and human life and in an effort to minimize the hardship and suffering of the Palestinian people;

Whereas the military operations of the Government of Israel constitute an effort to defend the people of Israel, which is the Government's moral duty in response to the unspeakable horrors of ongoing, indiscriminate terrorism, and are aimed only at dimantling the terrorist infrastructure; and

Whereas hundreds of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians tragically have been killed on account of ongoing escalations of violence initiated by Palestinian terrorist organizations: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) stands in solidarity with the Government of Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people;

(2) remains committed to Israel's right to self-defense and supports additional assistance from the United States to help Israel defend itself;

(3) condemns the end of the ceasefire by Hamas;

(4) condemns the firing of rockets into civilian areas by the terrorist groups of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad;

(5) urges all Arab states to declare strong opposition to terrorism and terrorist attacks on civilians;

(6) urges all parties in the Middle East to pursue lasting peace in the region; and

(7) expresses its commitment to working to promote economic relations, bilateral trade, and partnerships in technology and alternative energy between the United States and Israel in order to stimulate the economies of both the United States and Israel in this time of crisis.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2009_record&page=S149&position=all

Apparently Democrat Reid and Republican McConnell preferred the unadulterated work product of the Foreign Lobbyist AIPAC instead, because that seems to be what passed the Senate today, untouched by Foreign Relations Committee debate, amendment, or mark-up.

Note, though, that in advocating on the Senate floor for the yet-to-be-introduced measure on January 6th, Jon Kyl described AIPAC's Resolution this way:

"... before this week is out a resolution we believe has been drafted by the majority leader and the minority leader that deals with the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip..."

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2009_record&page=S23&position=all

By "drafted" Kyl apparently meant "accepted and endorsed" (though he retained a "we believe" qualifier, for obvious reasons). Or maybe the Senate is running short of facilities for hosting its own draft pdfs of legislation and resolutions, and has started farming out server hosting duties to the lobbyists; which at least would be marginally more honest than pretending that the Senate itself authored AIPAC's hateful screed.