Avigdor Lieberman Calls Annapolis A "Photo-op"

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman is convinced that no major diplomatic steps will be taken at the Annapolis summit, the Israel Beiteinu leader told The Jerusalem Post at the Knesset on Monday.

He said he was glad to hear reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had ruled out the formation of a Palestinian state until Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas regained control over the Gaza Strip from Hamas.

"This will be the biggest headline that will come out of Annapolis," Lieberman said, expressing satisfaction that his efforts to minimize the potential damage to Israel from the summer had apparently succeeded.

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Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu was more concerned than Lieberman that Israel will make dangerous concessions at Annapolis. He told the Likud faction in the Knesset that Israel had given up the policy of insisting on Palestinian reciprocity.

"For real dialogue and real peace, strong partners were necessary on both sides, but neither Olmert nor Abbas fit that bill," Netanyahu said. "The Palestinian Authority is weak and unwilling to lift a finger to stop terror. This process will unfortunately not lead to peace but to the dangers of more concessions that will threaten the essential interests of Israel. We require different partners and a different government."

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http://www.jpost.com:80/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1195546729026&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Let's stop funding the Israeli war machine. They're rich enough, why are we giving billions in aid to Israel? Tell 'em, 'Hey buddy, you're on your own. Your mouth starts a war your ass can't finish, don't come looking to us'. It's easy to talk tough when you've got big brother around, but maybe big brother has it's own interests?

Until THAT happens, it'll just be more posturing and death. With the extremists on both sides controlling the dialogue, and the middle just resigned to a life of war.

One of the negative sides of a PR-based electoral system is that the fringe-nutters can get a disproportionate amount of power.