Thursday, May 06, 2010

Rent-a-Roundup

Anybody interested in subletting an amazing townhouse in Hyde Park?

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DougJ looks at the polling regarding Arizona's anti-immigrant law, declares that "if it were up to white voters, we would be living under a Franco-style military dictatorship."

Incidentally, that same poll reveals that Blacks are even less likely to support the Arizona law than Latinos (whose own support can safely be characterized as minuscule).

Republicans discover one right for terrorists they can support.

South African human rights activist Rhoda Kadalie discusses her recent fact-finding trip to Israel.

Tzipi Livni calls for a Kadima/Likud alliance that can actually make peace, not to mention stem the poisonous tide of ultra-orthodox influence over Israel.

An element away from disaster.
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1 comment:

N. Friedman said...

David,

You write: "Tzipi Livni calls for a Kadima/Likud alliance that can actually make peace ..."

It is about time she is making real noises about joining the government. She should have done that when Obama was weakening the US in an effort to appease Arabs and Muslims by means of bashing Israel. Instead, she sat on her hands in the vain hope that she would become top dog. Had she been part of a unity government from the start, Obama would have understood that using Israel to placate Arabs and Muslims is a foolish endeavor because it has no chance of success.

As for the substance of your comment, "peace" is not something that one party can make. It is not a decision; rather, it is a state of relations between countries or peoples. So, unless your point is that Livni can make peace with Likud, you are, strictly speaking, saying nothing.

So far as making peace, any of the Israeli parties can make peace, if one side can really make peace. All claim to want peace. None of them has managed to make peace, of course.

With that in mind, I remind you that the Kadima proposal, presented to Abbas before Netanyahu's government came to power, offered more than any other Israeli offer ever offered and was surely enough to make peace. It was not accepted. I rather doubt that any Israeli government will offer much more. So, the question has to be asked, David - one that people who think like you always seem to elide - is what offer, short of Israel declaring its own demise, do you think that Palestinian Arabs would actually accept to end the dispute?

Note some recent polling, about which I do not vouch for accuracy, that suggests that the best imaginable Israeli offer would be entirely insufficient to the Arab side. Note these Q & A's:

Do you accept the creation of a Palestinian state on the area of the 1967 borders as a final solution for the Palestinian problem?

Yes 51.7
No 44.7
No opinion/I do not know 3.5

Do you accept the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967
borders with some land exchange as a final solution for the Palestinian problem?

Yes 28.3
No 66.7
No opinion/I do not know 5.0

The answers to the second question, a question which represents what can imaginable be offered by Israel, seems to be rather unpopular with the majority of Palestine's Arabs. And, the first question, which has Israel offering more than any Israeli government will ever offer, commands only a bare majority of Palestinian Arabs.

If these polling data represent the hard reality, a large plurality oppose any imaginable settlement. So, what is the basis for thinking that the Israelis have it in their hands to make peace?

8:02 AM

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