Israel, Palestinians Begin A Path To Peace

Bush Announces Two Sides Will Immediately Resume Negotiations To Create Palestinian State

(CBS/AP) 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has blamed a lack of Arab support for the collapse of the last peace talks in January 2001, just weeks before Bush took office. U.S. officials have said the conference was designed to get Arab "buy-in" at the outset this time.

"It is clear that, to succeed these efforts require the sustained and vigorous support of both regional states" and others, Rice said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal applauded after Olmert finished his speech, according to a member of the U.S. delegation.

It was a significant gesture from the nation considered the linchpin of Arab support for the coming talks. Saud, a veteran of past peace efforts, had said before the session that he would not shake Olmert's hand. Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and Saud told reporters he would do nothing to normalize relations until after Palestinian statehood and other territorial issues were resolved.

Saeb Erekat, a principal Palestinian negotiator, sounded upbeat, saying that after seven years of a stalemate there is an opportunity for serious talks with broad backing.

"We have the whole world. We have President Bush. And it is going to be two states living side by side in peace," Erekat said.

Privately, however, members of the Palestinian delegation expressed doubts that a deal resolving all the so-called final status issues could be reached by the end of Bush's term in January 2009. Some in the Bush administration share that view.

Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution is a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel. CBS's Bill Plante asked Indyk if he honestly thought there was a chance that a peace agreement would be settled upon by the end of 2008. "It's going to be hard to do," Indyk admitted, "because of the difficult issues."

In Israel, many were also decidedly unmoved by the speeches and high-minded goals of the conference. In coffee houses, falafel stands and kiosks in downtown Jerusalem, television screens were turned off or tuned in to soap operas and soccer matches during the speeches.

One kiosk owner, Yaniv Cohen, tuned his television to a local news channel broadcasting the summit, but the five or six customers drinking hot drinks in his shop weren't even paying attention. "We're working people. We don't have time for this," Cohen said.

The Palestinians believe Israel is not ready for total peace and Olmert will face a difficult time politically as any deal takes shape. Meantime, Abbas is seen as reliable, but also weak and a leader who can't in the end deliver on an agreement.

Despite vocal opposition to the latest peace moves, polls indicate a majority of both Israelis and Palestinians favor a negotiated settlement to their century-old conflict. However, most are skeptical that the Annapolis meeting will bear fruit.

[countyboy21]

Hmm? Interesting "noseonurface" good writing!
Uh! "b-easy63" wow! that''s horrible! I guess that part of the country is filled with psychotic criminals!I get horrified just seeing the pictures & reading about it! "at least they don''t eat babies"?yet!

Well, It''s obvious 2 me that it will be a could day in "HELL" before I take the family on vacation there huh! Hmm! I''d be better of sending them 2 a sleep in with Hanibal Lector on lsd!

Well maybe something good will come of this! I just pre-ordered some nice "Casbah" blue jeans & t-shirts from that part of the country! delivery date is a little long though? 2031a.d. huh! I should still be a 34-32!
regards. Oh by the way !

Well, It''''s back 2 business as usual 4 this team! After months of negotiations.
Olmert buys a 2 week vacation trip 4 Abbas in the Bahamas!!yea baby!
Abbas buys a string bikini 4 Conaleeza, because Conaleeza is going on vacation with Abbas!
& President Bush gets stuck bailing the fall hay!
V.P. Cheneys office sends Abbas a complimentary assortment of Jack Daniels & country music 4 the beach!
& free tickets 2 the new "show & Go" strip club ''''n bath house in Jerusalem 4 Olmet''''s cabinet!

WOW!! ain''''t this great!!
regards!

P.s. maybe they will give the people that shoot those rockets into other peoples homes a job 2 support there families! "I''ll try not 2 hold my breath on that one! just mortgage my $190,000 home!

[dmhphils]

Did Moslems hate the Jews prior to 1948 or the Jews moving to "Palestine" or is their hatred a direct outgrowth of the Jews moving into those lands and claiming a right to them by dint of biblical history and a gifting by the UK and America?


Posted by b-easy63 at 06:09 AM : Nov 28, 2007
----------------------------------------------

Who cares......the point is that this is more about the Reformists muslims and the Jihadis.....and if the Jihadis win, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.

[b-easy63]

To them, all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel, and purge the world of Jews. This is their mantra!
Posted by noseonurface at 05:44 AM : Nov 28, 2007

Did Moslems hate the Jews prior to 1948 or the Jews moving to "Palestine" or is their hatred a direct outgrowth of the Jews moving into those lands and claiming a right to them by dint of biblical history and a gifting by the UK and America?

[dmhphils]

The Jihadis, the militant muslims, are basically Nazis in kaffiyahs. They believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world.

To them, all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel, and purge the world of Jews. This is their mantra!

[dmhphils]

The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity etc., but if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity etc.

[b-easy63]

It has been said that we have signed lease agreements with Iraq to establish U.S. bases ( permanent), just as we did in Europe after WWII. The writing is on the wall and the rest of the Middle-Eastern countries are reading it. Time to bring some type of stability to this unstable region.
Posted by Edward1975 at 12:22 AM : Nov 28, 2007

What makes this especially interesting is that in 2006, congress passed a bill that stated the US could NOT and would not build permanent bases in Iraq. So what now? Repeal of that law, or just sweep it under the rug? or like FISA and rendition--ignore the laws and pretend we can legally do whatever we like?

[tbweb]

" Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that... I want to tell you something very clear: Don''''t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it. "

- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 2001

Posted by USAyesterday at 03:19 AM : Nov 28, 2007,,,

Israel does have what seems to be an incredible amount of influence and power over the United States no matter the roots or reason for it that is hard to comprehend. I never understood how Israel was able to bomb the U.S. warship U.S.S. Liberty and get away with it, killing and injuring many American Sailors as the ships Captain sat on deck bleeding from his injuries looked on in dismay! Ultimately even this was swept under the rug.

[usayesterday]

" Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that... I want to tell you something very clear: Don''t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it. "

- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 2001

[usayesterday]

Here is a scary quote... it sent shivers up my spine when I read it!...


" We believe with absolute certitude that now, with the White House and Senate in our hands along with the Pentagon and the New York Times, the lives [of Arabs] do not count as much as our own. Their blood does not count as much as our blood. We believe with absolute certitude that now, when we have AIPAC [the Israel lobby] and [Edgar] Bronfman and the Anti-Defamation League, we truly have the right to tell 400,000 people that in eight hours they must flee from their homes. And that we have the right to rain bombs on their villages and towns and populated areas. That we have the right to kill without any guilt. "

- Ari Shavit, Israeli journalist

[usayesterday]

Here is some interesting quotes regarding America versus Israel, (many of you need not convincing how dangerous our alliance with Israel truly is to peace... not only in the Middle East, but around the world)!

" I''ve never seen a President -- I don''t care who he is -- stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles the mind. They always get what they want. The Israelis know what is going on all the time. If the American people understood what a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms. Our citizens certainly don''t have any idea what goes on. "

- Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff under Ronald Reagan