February 5, 2005
AN ALLIGATOR COULD REACH IT:
Middle East Peace Within Reach, Bush Says (Scott Stearns, 04 February 2005, VOA News)
President Bush is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East ahead of an Israeli-Palestinian summit in Egypt. Mr. Bush told supporters in the western state of Nebraska, that peace in the Middle East is within reach.President Bush says the success of recent Palestinian elections show that there is a new opportunity for peace in the Middle East. It is an opportunity he hopes to help encourage by sending Secretary Rice to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of next week's summit.
"Now I believe peace in the Middle East is within our reach," the president said. "I know that we will achieve peace when the Palestinians develop a truly free, democratic society, which is what we are going to help them achieve. And then we will be able to achieve a goal of two democracies living side by side in peace: Israel and The Palestine."
President Bush has vowed to spend some of the political capital he says he earned in his re-election to help resolve Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The heavy lifting is all done. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 5, 2005 11:19 AM
There are plenty of 'deal-breakers' left. The absurd notion of a 'right of return' for the so-called Palestinians is only the most obvious. Any attempt to compel Israel to give up sovereignty of any part of the Old City of Jerusalem is similarly a non-starter. Every Jew in the world knows that when the dirtbag, King Hussein, held control of the Old City that Jews from anywhere in the world were barred from visiting it, even though it contains most of our holiest sites. I would refer you to Psalm 137.
Similarly, it will be extremely difficult to surrender any of the holy sites in Judea and Samaria, my guess is some kind of joint sovereignty will be needed for Hebron.
Posted by: Bart at February 5, 2005 1:12 PM"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem"
Posted by: Dave W. at February 5, 2005 7:05 PMThe right of return died at Camp David.
Bush buried it in June 2002.
If the Palestinians want to fight Israel over it, they are most welcome. But now there is accountability for those advocating the 'fighting'.
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 5, 2005 11:05 PM