Cheney: Peace Requires Painful Concessions

In Ramallah, Vice President Predicts Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement Will Succeed, With Caveats

(AP)  A Mideast peace agreement will require "painful concessions" by Israelis and Palestinians who must work together to defeat those "committed to violence," Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday.

After meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Cheney stressed the U.S. commitment to the creation of an independent Palestinian state, saying it was "long overdue."

"Achieving that vision will require tremendous effort at the negotiating table and painful concessions on both sides," said Cheney, whose stop in Ramallah came just two months after President Bush's trip to the West Bank.

"It also will require a determination to keep those who are committed to violence and who refuse to accept the basic right of the other side to exist," Cheney said.

Abbas, a moderate, controls the West Bank and is battling Hamas militants who have taken charge of the Gaza Strip from Abbas-allied forces and have bombarded southern Israel with rockets.

"Terror and violence do not merely kill innocent civilians, they also kill the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people," Cheney said.

In their meeting, Abbas asked Cheney to help stop Israeli settlement expansion and military operations targeting militants, said Saeb Erekat, an Abbas aide.

Speaking at the press conference, Abbas thanked Cheney for U.S. support. But he also lashed out at Israel's settlements and checkpoints. To reach peace, Abbas said, "what is required is will, courage and strong support from the international community, especially the U.S."

In his remarks, Cheney said, "A negotiated end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — one that addresses the legitimate national claims of both people — will have limitless value. Years of mistrust ad violence have achieved nothing, and the extremists who have stood in the way of a settlement have only caused further grief and suffering to the Palestinian and Israeli people."

"No one," he said, "deserves to go through live in a climate of fear of deprivation. ... That should not be and must not be the direction of events in this region."

Before the session, aides to Abbas said Abbas would tell Cheney there had been little progress in peace talks since the Palestinian leader and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a resumption at a November conference hosted by President Bush in Maryland.

Cheney said "the future belongs to the advocates of peace and reconciliation." He cited Bush as saying that "the establishment of the state of Palestinian is long overdue." The Bush administration, Cheney said, will commit resources to help the Palestinians build the infrastructure necessary to prosper.

Cheney held talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem before flying by helicopter to the West Bank. After seeing Abbas, Cheney planned a separate meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The vice president began Easter Sunday with a prayer and the singing of "Amazing Grace" at a tiny chapel in Jerusalem, then launched into a day of talks about the Mideast peace process and the rising influence of Iran in the region.

"We are obviously dedicated to doing all we can as an administration to try to move the peace process forward, and obviously actively involved in dealing with the threats that we see emerging in the region — not only threats to Israel, but threats to the United States as well," Cheney said in a meeting with Israel's president, Shimon Peres.

It was clear that Cheney was referring to Iran. Peres was more specific, saying the declarations that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes against Israel cannot be ignored.

"We have this problem of the Iranians who want to build two satellites, the Hezbollah and the Hamas in Gaza. ... Nobody can control us and say that declarations by Ahmadinejad are less serious," Peres said. "We have to take it seriously."

He said time is of the essence in the peace negotiations, but that he believes progress is achievable.

Cheney is on a 10-day trip to the Mideast, where oil, the future of Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran's rising influence in the region have highlighted his talks with foreign leaders. His visit here is part of the Bush administration's strategy to keep the pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to reach a framework agreement for peace before Bush leaves office in January 2009.

[leftyintexas]

Co*cksucking fa*ggot palestinians, hope they all get AIDs and die.
Posted by Taylor2124 at 01:40 AM : Mar 25, 2008

You wouldn''t, by any chance, be a Doofus supporter, would you?

[twintower6]

Cheney talking about IRAN: "We don''t know whether or not they''ve restarted. What we do know is that they had then, and have now, a process by which they''re trying to enrich uranium, which is the key obstacle they''ve got to overcome in order to have a nuclear weapon. They''ve been working at it for years."

Doesn''t this sounds familiar? WMD? About 4,000 deaths ago? Might as well start something to keep the cash flowing after they all get kicked out in November.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/21/wiran121.xml

[trishab4]

Cheney: Peace Requires Painful Concessions
In Ramallah, Vice President Predicts Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement Will Succeed, With Caveats

-Is he telling Palestinians they got to move out of their Homeland in order to let the Israelis live in Peace? Painful Again? Why don''t you give Palestinians some grease lube, to lower the pain level?

[liberalme]

Cheney singing Amazing Grace? It''s amazing he didn''t get struck by lightening!

He has no business even being in a church!

[taylor2124]

Co*cksucking fa*ggot palestinians, hope they all get AIDs and die.

[trishab4]

Vice President *** Cheney began Easter Sunday with a prayer and the singing of "Amazing Grace" at a tiny chapel in Jerusalem.

-must''ve been terrible!

[wardoglrs]

The Truth about War

http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.12.%20MoneyMasters.htm

Truth about Immigration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WJeqxuOfQ

[truthwart08]

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we''re really talking about peace." GWB

The kind of "peace" of mind that only comes with knowing that your investments in Haliburton, Bechtel, etc. are safe!

[frankbowers]

When chenney and gw bush except their failure is the time they will except a concessions them selves. Those two have cause such great damage, harm, hate for America and think nothing of it.
I wait patiently for their death so I can go and pissississ on their graves.
Frank Bowers of Austin, TX

[killtheliars]

As am American i am being forced to make concessions for a peace that i won''t even benifit from. Why should I make any concessions (my tax dollars, the falling value of a dollar, higher gas prices ect)for countries like Israel and Palestine that are half way around the world.
I was doign just fine, i have a nice house, a few cars flat screens upstairs and down, got to take at least two vacations per year. Now i am paying more for gas, the economy is turning bad and it is all because of Iraq, and the middle east.
Iwould rather let them solve their own problems (or destroy each other, whichever comes first) and go back to the standard of living i went to college to attain.