Hope for Peace

A meeting of mass murderers talking peace. If they should decide to stop their mass murdering peace would be possible. The question is can a leopard change it's spots? "Ashrawi denounces Israel's wall, economic sanctions and 'occupation,'" Cant blame her there.

Blueflame
It is a meeting to chat and bid farewell.
Nothing more
Nothing less and
Nothing else.

Hope for peace in Taiwan

"We don't accept China's military threats and we won't allow this law to become a long-term menace to our country."

A 63-year-old retired lawyer surnamed Chu
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/03/27/2003247928

WORLD DAY OF PEACE

1 JANUARY 1987


At the beginning of this Message I explained that the theme of solidarity impelled me to address this to everyone, to every man and woman in this world. I now repeat this call to every one of you, but I wish to make a special appeal in the following way:

- to all of you, Government leaders and those responsible for international agencies: in order to ensure peace I appeal to you to redouble your efforts for the integral development of individuals and nations;

- to all of you who participated in the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi or who were joined spiritually with us at that time: I appeal to you that we may bear witness together to peace in the world;

- to all of you who travel or who are involved in cultural exchanges: I appeal to you to be conscious instruments of greater mutual understanding, respect and esteem;

- to you, my younger brothers and sisters, the youth of the world: I appeal to you to use every means to forge new bonds of peace in fraternal solidarity with young people everywhere.

And dare I hope to be heard by those who practise violence and terrorism? Those of you who will at least listen to my voice, I beg you again, as I have in the past, to turn away from the violent pursuit of your goals - even if the goals themselves are just. I beg you to turn away from killing and harming the innocent. I beg you to stop undermining the very fabric of society. The way of violence cannot obtain true justice for you or for anyone else. If you want, you can still change. You can profess your own humanity and recognize human solidarity.

I appeal to all of you, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, to see the face of a brother or sister in every human being. What unites us is so much more than what separates and divides us : it is our common humanity.


Peace is always a gift of God, yet it depends on us too. And the keys to peace are within our grasp. It is up to us to use them to unlock all the doors!

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19861208_xx-world-day-for-peace_en.html

Hope for peace in Iraq

"The last hope for peace in Iraq was stomped to death this week. The victory of the Shiite religious coalition in the December 15 election hands power for the next four years to a fanatical band of fundamentalist Shiite parties backed by Iran, above all to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI)."
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2005/12/22/iraq_game_over.php

To the people of the world
This is the news that must be told
Of an Iraqi baby, not very old
Lying in her crib on a star-lit night
How could she know of those planes in flight?
She lies there quietly touching her nose,
Watching her mobile, wiggling her toes,
Oohing and cooing, so sweetly is she
Talking to someone, who could it be?
An Angel, is standing with her in the room.
The baby is smiling, unaware of her doom.
The crib starts to shake the mobile goes round
Then suddenly comes the most deafening sound
The ceiling drops in a second or two...
On her crib she ceases to coo...
No one knows how long she lies there
Who thought about it? Doesn't anyone care?
Is she alive? Is she dead? Is she in pain?
Now that you mention it, who knows her name?
Her name is Amel, in English we say Hope
Crushed between the rubble, her tiny fingers start to grope!
Where is my Mommy? I love her so dear!
Come get me Mommy! It's dark in here!
I'm scared, hungry, and I can't see my feet,
There's blood in my mouth! Give me something to eat!
Where is Daddy? Where's my big Brother?
It hurts when I breathe! Where is my Mother?!
How long have I been here? Is this just a dream?
I open my mouth, but I can't even scream!
Angels appear, again, by my side.
This time with a tear I plead...Why have I died?
Am I alone in my suffering? "No, there are many others.
In our grief and misery, we are all sisters and brothers."
Who are we, I ask you.. for what crime did we die?
They're throwing a party! Doesn't anyone cry?!
Is it true? Am I nothing?! How could it be?
Don't they also have babies, just like me?
It is war they say, of which death is a part.
How blind they've become, how hardened of heart.
Did someone say hero? To whom do they speak?
A victory claimed for killing the weak?!
Why are they happy? Why are they proud?
Don't they know that I'm cold in my burial shroud?!
No war has been won; no ifs, buts or maybes
No weapons of mass destruction:
They've only killed babies!!!

Mirelle
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.british/msg/21b2d64e2846c449

A bold, sustained American initiative like this, by restoring hope for peace, would be welcomed by the majority of Israelis and Palestinians if handled with skill and empathy. It also would shore up support in the Arab and Muslim world for President Bush's war against terrorism, and it would be welcomed here at home. Most Palestinians and many prominent Israelis now believe that such U.S. intervention is the only way to avoid a grim future for both peoples.

The time has come for American leadership.
http://www.fmep.org/analysis/articles/deadly_spiral.html

AFGHANISTAN'S HOPE FOR PEACE

For over two decades, the people of Afghanistan have endured war and oppression. But with the help of the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism, the Afghan people have cast off the rule of the totalitarian Taleban regime and their al-Qaida terrorist sponsors.

The U.S. is committed to giving the people of Afghanistan the chance to rebuild their economy, restore their government, and ensure their personal liberties and security. In the words of President Bush, "I am confident, and I believe [President] Karzai is confident, that with patience and with aid and with a proper strategy. . .Afghanistan can develop into a peaceful and hopeful nation."
http://www.ibb.gov/editorials/10004.htm

Hope for Peace in Somalia Fades -

http://www.cameroon.net/showthread.php?p=36378
LIBERIA: Engaging US Foreign Policy for DevelopmentThe Last Best Hope for Peace & Security in Liberia
By Francis W. Nyepon

Published: 02 February, 2006
http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1758/LIBERIA:_Engaging_US_Foreign_Policy_for_DevelopmentThe_Last_Best_Hope_for_Peace___Security_in_Liberia.html

Resolute Bush pledges to spread democracy: 'The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.'
CALIFORNIA CONTINGENT
Delegates shrug off biting cold
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/21/MNG0GAU7301.DTL

What Hope For Peace?

The latest Jerusalem attack, only five weeks after the previous suicide bombing in Jerusalem, is yet another demonstration of what is happening to the peace process. First you have peace and then you have a ceasefire. And then the ceasefire collapses and you will have some form of American intervention in order to re-establish the ceasefire for a while, and then again this process repeats itself. We are not in a situation in which the peace process has really produced an atmosphere of peace and stability. Rather the contrary is true.

The other question is whether Mr Netanyahu is to blame? And if so, to what extent? I believe most Israelis will agree that we have a Prime Minister who hasn't demonstrated a remarkable degree of competence and political wisdom; a very bad sense of timing and a good dose of arrogance too! But it is very difficult to put the blame for the deterioration of the process at Netanyahu's door. Whatever he has done, he did not change something that we had been already witnessing under Labour, under late Prime Minister Rabin and Prime Minister Peres, in which Mr Arafat was trying to sell us a mixture of peace and something else. Peace with violence.
http://www.join.org.au/aijac/97-10-01/yaari.htm

Arafat is still the best hope for peace, says top ally

"I think the only one who can deliver security and the only one who can sign a final status agreement with Israel is Yassir Arafat," Mr Rajoub, 51, told The Times. "The Israelis will never have security while there is still occupation, settlements and aggressions. If Mr Sharon does recharge his mental batteries and reconsider his policies, we will meet him in the middle of the road. But he will never find anyone on the Palestinian side who could deliver security without a political vision. He will wait forever. Security is contingent on the process of making peace."

With no single figure matching the iconic status of Mr Arafat, a number of alliances are being mooted, one of them between between Mr Rajoub and Marwan Barghouti, the imprisoned West Bank firebrand sentenced by an Israeli court to five consecutive life sentences and an additional 40 years.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article502377.ece

Peace on earth

As we anchor our values and expectations in that promised reality, may we also have the courage to look honestly at the hurt and turmoil that now fills the creation, and to feel the pain and the anger and the grief which are appropriate to this broken world. And then, may we have the even greater courage to name the ways in which we -- individually, and in many collective ways -- participate in, and cause, that hurt.
In our hope for peace, may we decry the human propensity to war and violence, to domination and exploitation. We are, indeed, complicit when we accept as "normal" that wealthy nations will go to war to preserve economic opportunities or to impose political philosophies, or that starving people must battle each other for access to food, or that religious factions might kill to assert their truth, or that economic systems will leave some who labor in poverty while others reap obscene wealth, or that animals are horribly abused in factory farming. This is not peace, and many of us profit from the violence.

In our hope for peace, may we lament the rapid extinguishing of species, those unique and beloved expressions of God's diverse creation. May we acknowledge that it is primarily humanity's dominance of the Earth -- our agriculture and logging and mining which destroy habitat, our plundering of ocean fisheries, our diversion of water, and our pervasive use of hazardous chemicals -- which is causing this great extinction.

In our hope for peace, may we acknowledge the unprecedented distortions and disruptions of the climate of this entire planet. My we admit that our energy-dependent economy is causing the ecological and humanitarian disaster of global warming, and that our unwillingness to abandon our privilege and convenience is dooming future generations to undeserved hardship and loss.
"Peace on Earth" is the heartfelt prayer of the season.
http://www.eco-justice.org/E-061201.asp

Wednesday, February 10, 1999

Netanyahu sees hope for peace
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
JERUSALEM, FEB 9: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he saw hope for a ``new beginning'' in the peace process while attending the funeral on Monday of Jordan's King Hussein alongside such foes as Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad.

``The fact that we all came here to signal our commitment to real peace in the Middle East convinced me I must try to achieve a new beginning to broaden the efforts for peace and make it real,'' he said on Israel Radio from Amman.
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990210/ige10072.html

New hope for peace in Sri Lanka.
http://web.amnesty.org/wire/september2002/Sri_Lanka

For local Ethiopians, new year brings hope for peace
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/331273_millennium12.html


Prison Does Not Dampen Hope For Peace

As we approach the third anniversary of our country's illegal invasion of Iraq, I am reflecting on our responsibility to take nonviolent direct action for a peaceful future. How far down the road of violence and inhumanity, of torturing prisoners, of surveillance of citizens, are we willing to let our government go? Is it right or correct to say, "there is nothing I can do?" No! Acting with love and courage, we can create a culture of peace and justice.

Many times in the history of our country and the world, people have acted against seemingly impossible odds and won! Women faced arrest and jail for decades before winning the right to vote. People around the world have stood up nonviolently to dictators, death squads and apartheid and in the case of India, Indonesia, East Timor, South Africa and many others, they have won. Through nonviolence, courage and commitment, we can end this war and other unjust polices of our country.

As I sit here in Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison, I find myself thinking about people not so different from me, husbands and fathers, who are in Abu Ghraib or Gauntanamo Bay Detention Facility. Except they aren't able to communicate at all with their wives or children. I know I'll get out in July, they don't know if they'll ever be released. I wonder if any of them know that there are people in U.S. prisons who are here for protesting our illegal wars and torture.

Do very many people in Iraq know there are growing numbers of voices in the United States calling out for peace and an end to the occupation of their country? Let the world hear your voice. Please do what you can to stop the crimes of our government.

There is a call to action to end occupation and war beginning on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and continuing through the year. It is our responsibility to act. As Judge Roling of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal wrote, "The most important principle of Nuremberg was that individuals have duties which transcend national obligations of obedience imposed by the nation-state. ... This means that in some cases individuals are required to substitute their own interpretation (of international obligations) for the interpretation given by the state." The judge went on to say, "The world has to rely on individuals to oppose the criminal commands of the government."

Prison, with its lack of sunlight and fresh air, depressed guards enforcing arcane rules and isolation from loved ones, can seem like a hopeless place. Yet even from here, I hear the voices of thousands crying out for a better world. Like the snowdrops and crocuses that I can't see in here, but I know must be pushing their way through snow and preparing to bloom outside, hope is cropping up in spite of everything.

. . .
Ithacan Danny Burns is serving a sentence in the federal Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in relation to his March 2003 anti-war protest at a Lansing military recruiting office.
http://stpatricksfour.org/?q=node/402

"War Is Not The Answer", and "Hope Not Fear, Peace Not War".
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0102-09.htm

HOPE FOR PEACE

By President Merrill J. Bateman

In a prayer meeting Sept. 11, BYU president Merrill J. Bateman spoke of the national tragedy and of the peace that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. "Even though we live in troubled times," he said, "it is possible for each of us to feel peace."

Editor's Note: On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy struck the United States as hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, in New York City, and the Pentagon, just outside Washington, D.C. As TV stations showed images of billowing smoke and commentators made comparisons to Pearl Harbor, more than 17,000 BYU students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Marriott Center for a prayer meeting in place of the regularly scheduled devotional. BYU administrators have received many requests for the text of President Merrill J. Bateman's speech on that occasion. Below is an edited version of his remarks. This text will also be published in the fall 2001 issue of BYU Magazine.

President Bateman has noted that to his knowledge, no BYU students or employees have had their lives endangered in this incident.


This morning, as most of you know, one of the greatest tragedies that has occurred on the mainland of the United States took place. Thousands of lives have been lost, and thousands have been injured. The most important counsel that we can give this morning, I believe, is three-fold.

The first is there is no reason to fear for our lives or the lives of our loved ones if they weren't in those towers or the Pentagon. We suspect the terrorists are hoping for panic. With the exception again of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, we believe there are no other areas of danger.

Second, it is extremely important that we be respectful of all people. When the Oklahoma City federal building was bombed, there was considerable speculation early on as to who might have been responsible. In the end those speculations were incorrect. We ask all of you to be respectful of every single person that you meet and contact here on campus and elsewhere.

Third, the best news of all is the good news. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though we live in troubled times--and prophets have indicated that there will be turmoil in the last days--it is possible for each of us to feel peace, to have the peace of the gospel in our lives. We believe that is the most important message we have for the world.

We are part of the greatest peaceful mission this earth has ever known. The 60,000 missionaries and 11 million members of the Church have the only message that gives hope for peace. And peace will not come in the lives of people until they have internalized the message of the Master.

Let me turn to the words of the Savior. At the Last Supper, after finishing the meal, the Savior and his disciples sang the Hallel. The words of the Hallel are from Psalms 113 to 118. Chapters 113 through 116 are sung before the meal, in which they thank God for their deliverance from Egypt; chapters 117 and 118 are sung after the Passover meal. I invite you today to read those chapters in Psalms. Those chapters talk about being saved from death. They're talking about the Atonement. And there Jesus is--now with 11 disciples, Judas having left and Jesus knowing where he was going--singing about his own death.

In that setting he then went on to talk to them about the most precious gift he had to give them. And that gift was the gift of the Holy Ghost. These are his words: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26).

And then he said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27). He knows where he is going, and there is peace in his heart. He knows he is going to the garden, and he is going to the cross. He's telling them he's leaving them his peace.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

Brothers and sisters, that's our message this morning. Fortunately, this is only the second act of a three-act play. Even when death comes to those we love, we know what lies ahead. We know they're fine. It's those of us who are left behind who are sad. And we know we will see them again. We know we will be with them. When death comes to someone who has the peace of the Holy Ghost inside, it can be sweet, not bitter.

Do you understand why you young people hold the power of peace for the world in your hands? The world depends on you.

Many of you have just returned from missions; many of you will go next year. The world's peace is on your shoulders because you have the only message that gives hope for eternal peace.
http://magazine.byu.edu/g/?act=view&a=709

Last hope for peace lies with UN chief


Perez de Cuellar left little room to manoeuvre

Martin Walker in Washington and Jane Rosen in New York
Thursday January 10, 1991
Guardian Unlimited

The last chance for diplomacy to resolve the looming military confrontation in the Gulf now appears to rest with the UN Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar.

The US Secretary of State, James Baker, said the world community could call on the good offices of the UN Secretary-General in a last trip to Baghdad, and avoided questions about the possibility of a further initiative by the European Community or by the Algerian intermediaries.

Mr Perez de Cuellar announced last night that he was leaving for Baghdad today after meetings with the US, Kuwaiti and Iraqi ambassadors to the United Nations.

But Mr Perez de Cuellar will have little room for manoeuvre. He is not empowered to scale down any of the UN resolutions, which include a demand for reparations as well as a complete and unconditional withdrawal.

The one possibility is for him to remind Saddam Hussein that the five months of the Gulf crisis have seen a marked shift in the traditional support of the US for Israel. The US has allowed the passage by the Security Council of resolutions critical of Israel's role in the occupied territories, and of its treatment of the Palestinians.

If Iraq is looking for a last excuse to avoid war while saving some face, reference to the modified US position on Palestine might provide some shred of a concession that President Saddam could use. But there was little hope in the US that this thinnest of fig leaves could achieve a withdrawal.

Mr Perez de Cuellar, who saw President Bush at Camp David last weekend, will provide the last opportunity for the delivery to President Saddam of the letter from Mr Bush which the Iraqi Foreign Minister refused to accept yesterday, and which the Iraqi embassy in Washington has also refused to convey to Baghdad.

The visit is expected to coincide with the withdrawal of the remaining US diplomats from the Iraqi capital, now planned for January 12.

Mr Perez de Cuellar told UN diplomats yesterday he doubted that he could persuade President Saddam to start withdrawing from Kuwait by the January 15 deadline.

The Iraqis continue to say they would welcome his visit, but they have not actually invited him to Baghdad. Nor have they suggested that this intervention would be useful.

Mr Perez de Cuellar's position is also complicated by his evident misgivings about both the deadline and the authorisation of force against Iraq . Two weeks ago he suggested holding another Security Council meeting before January 15 but in the face of American opposition he appeared to back-track.

Some UN diplomats reported that Mr Perez de Cuellar was reluctant to go to Baghdad because if his mission failed, he might be seen as the trigger for military action. However, Mr Perez de Cuellar is also aware that his place in history would be jeopardised unless he is seen as having done everything possible to avert a war.

The Secretary-General has already made one good offices mission to the Gulf. Three weeks after the Iraqi invasion he met the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, in Jordan. During eight hours of talks, Mr Aziz refused either to consider withdrawing from Kuwait or to ask President Saddam to receive Mr Perez de Cuellar.

If there is a war, the UN expects some 100,000 Iraqis will flee across the borders. Jordan yesterday closed its border with Iraq after repeated warnings that it could not cope with a new wave of refugees.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Disaster Relief Office are sending staff to Jordan, Turkey, Iran, and Syria to prepare refugee camps. Tomorrow both agencies will hold a meeting in Geneva to try to raise at least $32 million to finance their efforts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,874054,00.html

Cut and paste
What a waste
too bad your parents didn't remain chaste

Ragman
I know that you are fed up with my critical views.
If i were you I would have ignored the thread
instead of stooping to such an aysmal level
to drag my decent parents in your reply
(too bad your parents didn't remain chaste)

The renewed efforts of the Bush administration and the European Union (EU) summit, as well as the growing Israeli and international demand for a change in Israel's policy opening the road to peace, have given rise to a ray of hope, albeit dimmed by continuing bloody events.

Whether the dim rays of hope for a cease-fire, or even for renewed efforts to achieve just and lasting peace, will be able to change things for both Israelis and the Palestinians, remains to be seen.
http://www.pww.org/article/view/843/1/66/

My objections stem from the fact that you aren't expressing your own views. You would command far more respect if you enterred your own opinions and didn't constantly cut-and-paste other's opinions. We're all quite capable of reading our various news sources on our own without your direction.

Of course Ragman.
But My view is this.
Better give a response with relevant link and try to get some intellectual retors than typing some villifications.
I am the only chatter in all chat forums who indulge in cut and paste.
I have no regret nor i wish to change.
The reason is this.
I can read and write but I prefer to dress my critical thoughts with decent language.
And for your kind information English is not my language.
Thanks for not draging my family into this drivelling dance room

you're right. my apology. It was a cheap shot.

However, my point still stands...that you add very little in the way of quality threads by cutting-and-pasting of other's opinions. Also, sometimes I don't think you actually understand what you are pasting.

Listen Ragman
With high regard and due respect I beg to submit this.
I read a lot and when I post a thread here or elsewhere I read the source twice before .
Of course I read all the posts in this politcs forum and seldom air my views .
I had never quoted other's opinion with which I have disagreements.
My views are better placed by those authors who are professional in their field,
If your language is different from that of others with whom you communicate, it is always better to pick the right source.

Amitai Etzioni
Annapolis: A Speech Not Given
Posted November 26, 2007 | 12:47 PM (EST)

There follows an address that will not be delivered by President Bush at the Middle East peace talks in Annapolis, Maryland. After the proper tribute to the various dignitaries present and a reference to the importance of peace for the region and the world, the speech reads as follows:

"A Palestinian state, long overdue, can be born before the sun sets on this day. It must be a state that will live in peace and security with Israel. To proceed, several essential compromises, which I list immediately, must be reached. None of them will please either side--the sure sign of compromise. However, if each side will continue to seek advantages, the road to peace will never be traveled. I hence call on all sides to bring an end to the bloodshed and suffering and to embrace the following set of peace and state- building measures. The measures must be accepted as one, and there is no room for haggling about their composition. The United States and its allies are committed to do all they can to ensure that the terms of the following suggestions will be honored.

Borders

The borders between Israel and the Palestinian state will follow roughly along what is known as the green line. Because of security concerns and developments that cannot be reversed, the final border according to the attached map varies by less then ten percent (in terms of the territories encompassed) from the green line. In some cases, it turns over to the Palestinian state some towns and villages that are west of the green line (mainly comprised of Israeli Palestinians); in some cases it turns over to Israel some towns and villages that are east of the green line (mainly comprised of Jewish settlers); in few cases, it creates bi-national parks on the border. All in all, it requires both sides to make concessions, albeit not totally equally ones. A small tilt to Israel in this part of the measures for peace will be more than offset when we turn to the status of Jerusalem.

The barrier that separates the two states will be repositioned in line with the said map, but from now on it will be fully recognized as legal. It should be noted that once the sides learn to live in peace with each other, the barrier can be very readily removed and replaced by normal border markers used by most nations. Also, even as we speak, it should be noted that the barrier already has 96 gates that can be opened at will to the flow of people and goods.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem will be the capital of both the state of Israel and of the Palestinian state. It will also ensure sovereign control of the holy sites to still other faiths. There are several neighborhoods in Jerusalem that Palestinians consider part of that city (such as the Shuafat refugee camp, Sawakhra, Walaje and other villages) but many in Israel --do not. These are parts in which many Palestinians live. These and some other areas, to be discussed, will be the location for the Palestinian capital. Sites that are holy to several religions will be granted a sovereign status, comparable to the Vatican in Rome. Their guardians--for instance Saudi Arabia for the Al Aqsa mosque, and the Greek Ortordox Church for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre--will watch over these places and neither the police nor the armies of the state of Israel nor the Palestinian state will enter these turfs unless clear evidence is presented to the international community that they are being used to harbor terrorists and weapons.

The right of return

All the Palestinians that have left Israel in 1948 have a right to return to their homes and lands or be properly compensated for their loss. No distinction will be made among those who left voluntarily, were chased out, and those who sought to return after the war and occupy their Jewish neighbors' house. However, these rights will be balanced by rights of Jews who left Arab countries, such as Iraq and Egypt, and other Muslim ones such as Iran. No distinctions will be made among those who left voluntarily, were chased out, or just sought to better their economic state. Hence the right to return will be enacted for the net numbers involved.

In closing

There are numerous details that must be worked out. Not least is how to ensure that the new Palestinian state will not allow a terrorist group such as Hezbollah to use its territories to accumulate heavy weapons and fighters bent on the destruction of Israel. However, for now I call on all sides to accept a compromise that will satisfy neither, but will allow the bloodshed and suffering of good people to end, for each to have a state of their own, and for them to learn to live together in peace and prosperity."

****

Amitai Etzioni is Professor of International Relations at The George Washington University and the author of Security First: For A Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy (Yale, 2007).

Hmmm... same thoughts on BBB?

If the US has it's finger in the bid for peace you can forget it, especially if GW Bush is involved, how can there be peace in the Middle East if you ignore the other 50% of Palestinians living in Gaza and what about Hamas, weren't they democratically elected by the Palestinians a while back …. The US is controlled by Israel and the Jewish Lobby you don't need a college education to see that?