The President has to be real diplomat in this situation.

"Obama demurred" was the smart move @ that time.

... because there are people on both sides who benefit from keeping the conflict going.

Which is too bad because the majority on both sides want peace.

I remember a poll that said 79% of Israelis and 74% of Palestinians support a two state solution.

Especially on the Palestinian side. I've never been under the impression that a two state solution has solid backing there.

Could be wrong, of course.

So the numbers are probably different today.

and about the two Germanys. If that many on both sides want it, it'll happen eventually.

There has been no reunification in Ireland. Britain still holds the north.

There will be no "unification" in the I/P case. It will have to be a two state solution or it will remain as is. Israel will never give up being a Jewish state...they'll have to kill everyone to make that happen and I don't think anyone wants that.

they don't have to give up any of their sacred cows.

Israelis want a two-state solution so long as it doesn't lead to anything resembling an actual Palestinian state (control of its own borders, air space, or ground water).

Palestinians want a two-state solution so long as it includes a right of return to their ancestral home for descendents of those who left/were expelled in the nakba.

their own state and have suffered immensely d/t Israel's lack adherence to International law.

is makin me wanna puke.

wonder how many state or military secrets our great friend will sell to china tomorrow :p

how do you have a true democratic state of Israel when you put one religion over any other?

when you think about it and follow the sequence of events in this quarrel. And religion is one of the problems between these people. Jews make claims on the land because of the historical past of Israel. Arabs because of the historical past of Palestine. This land has been fought over ever since it has been written about. It was once the land of many small city states including the Philistines. The Babylonians,Assyrians, Egyptians and Romans all had control of it. The Ottomans conquered it until they relinquished it to the British in a War.

The major population inhabiting that land at the time the British acquired it were the Palestinians until Zionists advocated to the British Government the proposition of obtaining a homeland in Palestine for persecuted Jews. The British Government was open to it after World War I. What occurred was World War II and the British limited immigration of Jews to Palestine, even by force because of discontent from her other Arab possessions. The Jews started a rebellion against British control. They were once labeled terrorists by the British Government.

The pressure was put on the British by the United States to allow more Jewish immigration in Palestine. The president at the time was Harry Truman. The British relinquished and decided to form a Commission with the help of the United States to come to a solution. They could not come to an agreement to please either the Arabs or Jews, because the United States wanted to lift immigration restrictions in favor of the Jews and Britain didn't because it endangered her position with her Arab possessions.

So what the British ultimately did was Annice she would retreat from the Palestine Mandate won by her and leave the solution up to the newly formed United Nations. Then the United Nations formed a commission without any of the Great Powers involved. The final solution was a two state solution upon the agreement of both sides. The plan also defined borders. The Arabs rejected it on the basis, Zionists had no claims on Palestine and the Jews reluctantly agreed on the plan. What occurred after, before there was any agreement, Ben Gurion of Israel declared an independent state of Israel and the first War between the Arabs and Israel occurred immediately with Israel gaining territory and Egypt and Jordan also claimed pieces of Palestine. The loser was the Palestinians. Syria also gobbled up the Golan Heights. And ever since, Israel has grown into a military power. It is not very hard to put this together. Israel's backer was the United States, because the United States took sides from the very beginning and used its political weight within the U.N. even though it was mainly territory acquired by the British. The U.S. got involved because of political pressure from religious groups within this country. There are many in this country believes in the Jews rights because of the Christian Bible. It is more evidence to me religion spurns Wars, hatred and intolerance.

and the two thousand years of persecution of Jews in Europe and North Africa prior to that is worthless.

The reason that Truman, other allied leaders and the UN established Palestine after WWII was that they wanted to end the terrible ordeal that innocent Jewish people had undergone for so many, many generations.

And more specifically, they had to find homes for those European Jews who had survived the Holocaust.

North Africa and Asia across through Iran is a huge place. Many of the countries that claim to be so concerned about Palestine are wealthy, rich from oil revenues. But they do nothing to help the Palestinian people. Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Tunesia?

European and American including both North and South American countries welcome refugees from all over the world and offer sanctuary and a path to citizenship.

If Palestine's "friends" like Iran and Syria were as welcoming to the Palestinians, there would be no problem.

As for the right of return, you can never go home. The idea that the Palestinians can somehow "return" to a homeland is simply an illusion. No one can go back and erase the past.

It's time for Israel and Palestine to forge ahead with a two-state solution and set aside their illusions.

but tough shit."

Zzzzzzz.

And then give Israel, Texas. Israel will get the oil and can you see Narcos crossing Israel's border? NOT.

leave like the British did? Let them fight it out till they come to their senses. Or the U.S. can really act responsible and force both sides to capitulate and follow up with the original U.N. mandate. The process was illegally terminated by Ben Gurion's proclamation. The United States, Britain, France,Russia and China all have the power to force it. The interest which supercedes other interests is World Peace. When the British relinquished their rights to the Palestine Mandate to the U.N., then it should still come under that organization's authority. The problem is, the United States by acting bias, made the situation worse than it should have been, no side had military superiority. That was the original concern of the first Commission that was put together by Britain and the United States. That view has come to fruition. It endangers World peace today, with terrorism and each side trying to gain military equivalence or an edge, to obliterate each other. If Israel has nuclear weapons, then it was also the U.S. government again turning the blind eye, only to complain about Arabs gaining the same capabilities. Before we get into World War III, I suggest to the U.S. leaders, they still have the opportunity to put that genie back into its box. If you truly want deescalation want nuclear weapons out of the Middle East, then that ultimatum should be to both sides.