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Results so far:
| No | 79% | 192 votes | Total: 243 votes | |
| Yes | 21% | 51 votes |
No
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Add to FavoritesPresident George W. Bush is trying to build a legacy. I believe that to be his sole motivation in pushing for peace now, when the means for making peace are not feasible at this time. Peace at any cost seems to be the administration's view-point. It certainly is the unrealistic, and dangerous theme the U.S. State department under the rabid control of Condoleeza Rice runs by.
Forcing a peace wherein the Israelis must give up a great deal of its Biblical heartland...includin g half of its capitol with promises of security from "moderate" Muslims (Muslims who kill moderately?) whose only point of agreement is their unified hatred of Jews, is a bad idea.
Until the so-called "Palestinians" (a group of people that were just regular Iraqi or Egyptian Arabs prior to 1967 and Arafat's quite successful media branding) can cease their human rights violations against their OWN people...I.E. not only other Palestinian Muslims, but also against Arab Christians especially, I don't believe making peace with the Jews...a people their Koran says are doomed to the fires of hell is at all possible.
Not only this, but since Gaza has become Judenrein, (Jew free), Hamas has steadily built up an army and has acquired missiles much more deadly than the "home-made" Kassam rockets. They now have Katyusha rockets which can hit directly in major Israeli population centers such as Ashkelon. They continually fire these rockets on an almost daily basis...and Israel must act with "restraint" according to the U.S. in order for there to be peace.
I wonder just how the U.S. would react if the Native American communities...or the Hispanic communities decided that they were going to fire rockets into Oklahoma City, or Dallas...Houston.... Phoenix, Arizona etc.?
These are continued acts of war perpetrated by Hamas...a terrorist organization voted into office by a majority of normal, everyday "Palestinians."
I doubt seriously President Bush in all his arrogance and stupidity can really bring about a peace. And if he does...if I were an Israeli, I would figure it was time to give up and jump into the sea.
Learn more about this author, William Blesch.
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Yes
Yes, President Bush can definitely promote peace among Palestinians and Israelis, as long as he treats both sides fairly. In order to do so, the Bush administration must stop treating Israel like a favored son - a carrot and stick approach to diplomacy must be applied equally to both sides.
The United States alone gives over $3 billion a year in aid to Israel. Business connections between the two nations are thriving, and AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), which looks after Israel's concerns in the U.S., is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington. In contrast, the Palestinian territories formerly received about $1 billion in yearly aid combined from all donor nations, and this aid has been withheld to the fairly elected Hamas-led Palestinian government. Bush claims to support democracy in the Middle East, but he is actually harming it by only offering aid to Fatah, the party that lost the last Palestinian election, and not to the legitimate ruling party Hamas.
If the Bush administration is going to withhold funds from the Palestinian territories, than it should withhold funds from Israel as well, as it is clear to all unbiased observers that both sides are equally responsible for the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Holy Land suffers interminably from an unholy cycle of hate and revenge that both sides perpetuate by retaliating for every evil act the other commits. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not yet learned something most of us know by kindergarten - that two wrongs do not make a right.
The American taxpayers' money given to both sides should for now be confined to necessary humanitarian aid, and any further aid granted should be tied directly to progress toward peace the Israelis and Palestinians themselves make. Money is an excellent motivator. The economies of the United States, Israel, and Palestine can all benefit greatly from peace in the Middle East. The U.S. will regain some of the international respect (especially from Arabs) that we've lost in Iraq, and the Israeli and Palestinian peoples will see what it's like to step onto a bus without worrying about suicide bombers, and to walk in the street with no fear of an Israeli air attack.
Learn more about this author, Nick Roy.
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