@Junkyard_Jim Said 
Good posts. Could be that PT's link didn't come through with the magazine cover photo. I read both and it made me look again at the "conversation" I've been having with a young Lebanese Arab. The young man claims to be a Christian Maronite, and perhaps he is. However, whatever his experiences and education have been inside Lebanon, they have instilled a very deep hate of Israel, Jews and the United States. Curiously, he seems to have a real bias toward Palestinians, as well.
The Israelis have faced this since well before the formation of the Jewish State, back into the late 1800s in the region and through the partitioning of Palestinian lands under the British Mandate for Palestine in 1920 that started the real violence on both sides and the run up to the country of Israel in 1948.
When Israelis realistically look at the attitudes of the Arabs in the surrounding countries (case in point the young man with whom I traded posts), multiply that feeling by millions, read the attacks in the MS media op-eds, the type of reporting Time Magazine provided here, inaccurate information regarding its self-defense and past efforts to achieve peace with its neighbors followed by all-out undeclared wars and attempts at incursions intended to eliminate Israel as a country and Jews as an entity, its no wonder they give little credence to the process at this point in time.
Most are waiting to see what happens with Iran and its government and its stated intention to remove Israel from the global map. Aside from the American public, Israel is fairly isolated at this point in time. Even the present US government has lowered its verbal support, but knows Americans generally want Israel kept safe.
I'd be surprised if the Israelis were actually banking on peace.
I reviewed the past posts and have concluded that israel wants to negotiate a peaceful "treaty" but the Palastinians aseem to want to continue talking.
Sep 08, 2010 @ 13:43:15
