@RABEL222,
Quote:How in the hell is a two state solution possible in this area as long as Israel allows their settlers to build cities in Palistianian territory and than gives them the protection of their army?
Hiya, Rabel. Your question is a highly interesting one. In my opinion and many others, more expert at this, I would say yes, religion does play a role in the mid east conflict, to a degree. Politics play the major role, however, and the two together, religion and politics, make a toxic mix.
With due regards to the present Middle East conflict, a two-state solution simply doesn't seem possible and this is what the stalling political PM, Bibi Netanyahu, is aspirant of. During GWB's first term, Netanyahu asked the incurious president if he could keep the settlements and land the settlers had already built on. The unripe Bush, the younger, said "yes." This answer conflicted with long held US mid east policy that all land must be negotiated among the two leaders themselves, Abbas, president of the Palestinian authority and the Israeli PM.
The bureaucratically astute Netanyahu knew of W's political naiveté, that he also did not have the intellectual capacity to be president of the United States and sought to exploit this mental vulnerability. But thinkers, possibly Condoleezza Rice, and some at the UN, cautioned GWB on this mid east request and the naive president of the US called Netanyahu, explaining that a Palestinian state must be a contiguous one and not made up of a patchwork...bits of land here and there...threaded through and through with illegal settler houses.
My country, the US, practices a double standard where the criminal policies of Israeli government is concerned....if the US were serious about Israel's quitting the occupation they would cut the 3~5 billion dollars that give that tiny nation annually....as it is the US dare not publicly criticize the unprincipled Zionist nation.
Politics play an enormous role in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; politics impact with great force the Pro-Israeli US congress. Many congressmen in the US congress would throw their mother under the bus for Israel. Why is this? Because AIPAC - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, A Lobby group for Israel, contribute huge sums of money to each congressional individual across the board, Democrat and Republican. Retaining power in the United States Congress is what these politicians would kill for. And when running for the Congress, House and Senate, they travel to Israel to grovel to the Israeli government.
