Expectations are so low one must take this as good news. But, still. Not only it leaves out the need to talk to Hamas, but it does not even mention lifting the sanctions (sanctions that the previous senate endorsed, of course).

2-state+ negotiations + special envoy: that's a resolution AIPAC can endorse, so I see no reason why senators wouldn't.

To put this in perspective, this does not even goes as far as the Iraq Study Group.

Until then: I hope the IDF and Mossad kills all of them.

Until then: I hope the IDF and Mossad kills all of them.

Such sentiments are not those of an entirely healthy human mind . . . or heart. Yesterday I had a gut-wrenching reaction to this sarcastic comment, which seemed exceptionally nasty given the real ovens in which so many Jews perished:

Or what? Will Israel decide to become the world leader in ovens that seat eight?

Then I read the above line.

I'm not sure what to say, but something is very, very wrong here.

You can be repulsed by what Emet18 writes and still be repulsed by a fancy-penned and verbose poster who appears to take glee in comparing the State of Israel to Nazi Germany. Emet18 and his ilk do not justify such bigotry in response to their arm-chair analyses.

You can criticize the State of Israel, heck you can even question its right to exist as far as I'm concerned, without analogizing Israel's conduct to shoving unarmed children into gas chambers and burning their naked corpses in ovens.

bslev, I hope I was clear since I believe we are in complete agreement. I have been deeply disturbed over the past two days by statements on both sides of this "debate" that suggest a degree of hatred and anger that honestly leaves me fluctuating between nausea and tears.

We must remember that we are talking about real people here. When I was in college, I dated a wonderful, kind, and gentle Jewish girl. We talked as young people in love do about our families. Her stories always ended with her parents and siblings. Aunts, uncles, grandparents--she knew none for the obvious reason. There was a deep hole in A's heart and while I can't completely fathom how it must feel to have suffered such a loss, her void left an impression on me that I will never forget.

At the same time, I was friends with the local grocer--a Palestinian, who had brought his family to America after having lost his home. He too was a kind, gentle person, who always gave me free food when I was short on cash and was always willing to wait weeks to get paid. He'd share with me produce--figs, olives--that reminded him of home, and he'd tell me stories of the wonderful orchards he remembered as a child. Never once, did S make any bitter comment about Israelis or Jews or anyone else. He simply longed for a special place which he had lost permanently.

As Dostoevsky observed in the Adolescent, we are all characterized by a "peculiar broadness" -- a capacity to combine great acts of kindness with horrendous acts of cruelty. We all are at fault here. We all sometimes think and say and do things that our better natures regret. But the more we keep in mind the real people--the A's and S's that we all know--the less likely we are to slip into the anger and hate that leads so tragically to so much suffering.

Thanks for the heads up on this Daniel (and for a link to your blog, which I had heard about, but not yet visited - looks great!). I notice that some don't think much about the significance of Feinstein's resolution, the content of which itself is indeed certainly less than earth-shattering - no new ground is being forged there. But especially in light of the Jerusalem unification resolution recently passed by the House, the symbolic value of Feinstein's resolution is tremendous. Kudos to Feinstein!

Know your enemy well, for in the end that is who you become. ~~Old Chinese Proverb

We should not be pushing for a two state solution. It is not sustainable. As long as Israel or any other national government is based on an exclusive racist model there will not be a sustainable peace. What IS sustainable is the South African model. Sure South Africa still has many problems, but ethnically based warfare is not one of them anymore. If the Israeli government ends it's apartheid practice of stealing land and water that belong to other people, if they allow full citizenship and a voice in government to people who they have excluded at gunpoint, they may just find, like the South African whites did, that their neighbors are people too. Like South Africa their economy will grow because the rest of the world will trade with them, rather than boycott their products.

Emet18, it's fine to disagree with cderrah, but please can you tone down the insults? You may think his solution is not practical, but reality is that South Africa went from arguably a worse situation of ethnic conflict than I-P to arguably a better one. I-P has stagnated. So maybe cderrah is not being so unrealistic.

Of course, your "my way or death" approach to negotiating would indeed create a real world where any peace might indeed be unrealistic. I'm not sure you'd regret that though. You mention dead Arabs enough to suggest that the thought appeals to you.

I have a good friend X who happens to be Jewish, has been an activist for peace, is vehemently anti-gun, and advocates for animal rights. As the Iraq war was beginning she embarassedly confessed to me that "part of her wanted to pick up a gun and kill all those Arabs." Now if X can have such violent feelings, anyone can have violent feelings! But X hasn't allowed those feelings to stick around and she remains absolutely committed to peace. In a situation like I-P, where passions, hopes, and fears run deep, it is only human to hate and even to wish for someone else's death. Everyone has such feelings. They are in many ways just harmless sparks. But if they are not extinguished immediately, they can take hold, the embers glowing, until we become obsessed by the heat and the rising flame, and soon teeter on the edge of conflagration.

Every time the Israeli government forces people out of their homes to be replaced by people the Israeli government finds ethnically preferable they are in serious violation of international law. It is one thing to have military control over a geographic area, that in of itself is not a serious problem. But to ethnically cleans an area, forcing people to leave their homes, farms, businesses, so that the government can settle people that are ethnically more like themselves is a racist government policy. Dropping these government policies of apartheid, would be a the first big step to peace. The problem of a government being based on religious separation did not begin with Israel, nor will it end when Israel eventually ends this practice. In theory and to a lesser extent in practice, freedom of religion, has been the reason the US government has survived over two hundred thirty years. The main reason Israel has survived as long as it has with it's apartheid policy is the infusion of billions of dollars a year and total political support from the US government. Like Cuba Israel will some day have to survive without it's benefactor. Due to geography (not being on an island, thus more easily invaded from the outside)it will be much tougher for Israel.