Who do they think they are, behaving like a reasonable government.

It's going to take bold moves like this to improve the Israeli/Palestinian situation. When Palestinian territories start hosting other nations' embassies, Palestine's legitimacy will be cemented.

Now, if they can just get rid of Hamas and reciprocate with peace...

I wonder if and when other EU countries will follow.

Props to the Swedish government for acting with humanity and a genuine effort toward peaceful co-existence.

Way out ahead, as usual! Ms Bigmack

I look forward to seeing Hamas et al recognizing Israel as a state.

but Hamas will never recognize Israel and the Swedes are living in a fool's paradise. This will only embolden terrorists.

I had a rabid driver to take me home from the airport who was a Hamas guy from Gaza. In addition to trying to convert me to Islam some 10 times, he said Hamas will not stop until Israel is completely destroyed. According to him, that is what Islam's teachings say.

but no one's interested in your rationalization of Apartheid.

the apartheid practiced by Arab states. Liberals sound like republicans when it comes to Israel-one sided and vicious and no common sense.

I'm a white, South African left-liberal who grew up under Apartheid, heard fellow white South Africans say *exactly* the same things about South African Apartheid that Israel's apartheid defenders say about Israeli Apartheid, and grew up to see all of my anti-Apartheid heroes - Mandela, Tutu, Kasrils say that what is happening in the occupied territories is indifferentiable from Apartheid. Worse, even.

It's like conflating Jews and Israel, or Likud and Israel.

Still happy about Fattah al-Sissi's slaughter of over four thousand Egyptians? What was your reasoning again, that "the Mullahs need to be controlled"?

Stick backing India's new islamophobic, homophobic right-wing religious fundamentalist PM?

I'm certain that your cab driver told you exactly what you wanted to believe anyway, so that you could deliver this insight to all of us at DU. Or you could just be a sick fucking bigot who cheers for the killing of Muslims because they're Muslims. having read your posts but never met your cabbie, i have to opt for the latter, and urge you to crawl your shit-spewing ass back to Atlas Shrugged. Pam misses you.

Why is it that any time anything is written against terrorists, people like you bring up islamophobia?

By your standards, one can never speak up against Boko Haram, Al Shabab, ISIS, Taliban, Al Q'aeda, Pakistani ISI or Hamas because when one does, it is automatically portrayed as islamophobia and the poster viciously attacked.

A vast majority of muslims are peaceful and non-violent but a lot (not all) of the shitty terrorist things are perpetrated by muslims under the name of Islam. Just saying "that is not the real Islam" is not enough.

By the way, Fattah al-Sisi is an ally of the United States who has brought order and good governance to Egypt and saved the lives of coptic christians and other minorities who were being slaughtered by MB. Narendra Modi received a two day welcome at the White House and praise for his policies from Kerry, Clintons and Obama (last I checked, all of them democrats). You can kvetch about it all you want but that is the reality. Perhaps you are unhappy with your democratic party leaders and want to start a new party?

Lastly, who the hell is Pam?

Here, we're talking about Palestinians - you speak as if they are all Hamas.

You support the mass murder of over four thousand people by the Egyptian coup, why? Well, they were Muslims so you assume they were all terrorists. When in fact the reality was they were men and women who were protesting a bloody, anti-democratic coup.

And yeah, the administration welcomed a visit by a nasty right-wing religious fundamentalist bigot who believes Pakistan and Bangladesh have no right to exist. World leaders of all stripes tend to be welcomed, because, you know, politics. However you are not constrained by geopolitical politeness. Yet you still rally for this bigoted scumbag.

That is YOUR interpretation.

All I said was that Hamas will never accept Israel's right to exist -- even if the Palestinian Authority does and thus Sweden's move was foolish.

Now, instead of hyperbole and propaganda, show me where Narendra Modi said Bangladesh and Pakistan have no right to exist. Show me one instance where he said that.

Lastly, violence begets violence. Muslim Brotherhood people went killing coptic Christians and Shias en masse, then, when the military tried to enforce law and order, they tried to be violent against the military -- they got what they were looking for. If MB had tried an unarmed, Gandhian protest, they most probably would not have been killed.

I have been to Egypt many times and all the people I met were intelligent, educated, polite, well-versed, cultured and full of knowledge. Even they expressed displeasure at how the democracy movement was hijacked by rabidly religious and violent elements and now support the military. Will you be accusing them of Islamophobia?

When will you separate Rabid-violent-terror-driven-Islamophobia from just plain Islamophobia? The former is rational and the latter is bigoted. I do NOT subscribe to the latter.

No one should be hated just because they are Muslim/Hindu/Christian/Jewish etc. However, everyone who practices terror and violence against innocent people for political and/or religious aims is fair game regardless of their religion.

So, stop playing the Islamophobia card.

given the political climate there.

That's where this is headed. They may want to wait until "Palestine" has a government, modern laws and respect/recognition of neighboring countries.

yeah, right.

Let me know when that happens.

Palestinians to do the same thing and then start acting like citizens of a country.

Even amid stiff competition from cosmicone and rhinodawg.

I hope many more countries follow Sweden's wonderful example.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

I couldn't be more happy. Finally someone cares about both of those peoples. Let's end the apartheid. God loves everyone -not just one side or people.
Stonecarver

And high time the rest of the world does too

of the Swedes but I can forget all that and join in the praise of Sweden.