Based on these core principles, liberals should overwhelmingly demand that the Palestinians accept Israel's minimal request to bring peace.
The South African peace negotiations template can serve as a model for facilitating peace efforts around the world today, from the Middle East, to Afghanistan, to Iran, to the Basque area of Spain.
A recent rejection of any Judeo-Christian connection to Jerusalem has become a growing force in Palestinian nationalism that may permanently endanger Jerusalem's ancient and modern past.
Now that the report has been voted out of the Human Rights Council and forwarded to the Security Council, the gamesmanship continues. That it is back center stage is a good thing.
At a time when both Russia and China are trying to readjust their diplomatic bearings with Washington, why not join the West for a while in toughening sanctions against Tehran?
Today's vote in the mistakenly-named UN Human Rights Council provided a window into those 25 member states who could not distinguish between a democratic state and a terrorist entity.
What used to be a "barely-watched" Turkish drama series called Ayrilik has become controversial because of a love story that develops between the lead characters during Israel's operation in Gaza.
I put off reading the Goldstone report the same way I put off scheduling a colonoscopy. I now realize it was for many of the same reasons. You know it's going to be tremendously uncomfortable, you don't want to know what they're going to find, and the consequences could be life-threatening.
Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old student and volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, was killed by a bulldozer operated by the Israeli army while attempting to prevent it from demolishing the home of a Palestinian.
For the Palestinians, there is still no real leadership, no one who speaks for all of them, and no one who can get them the state they so desperately want. This must change.
Nuclear war is only John Bolton's dream -- something to hope for but not really expect to get.
In the neighboring country of Yemen, a very real opportunity to make good on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's promise of friendship is rapidly emerging for Iran.
"I have to admit that I'm beginning to miss George W. Bush," is the way former Republican Senator "Chuck" Hagel responded when being asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer to assess the foreign policy record of the administration of Republican President John McCain.
Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, is boycotting J Street's -- the new pro-Israel PAC -- first annual conference. Incredibly, he says it could "impair Israeli interests."
With so much of the civilized world condemning the his report, Richard Goldstone seems to be backing away from the report's conclusions -- at least when he speaks to his Jewish audiences.
Goldstone's report, in effect, equates Israel with Nazis and other tyrants of history by accusing the Jewish State of deliberately targeting civilians.
Many in Israel today see archeology as a tool for strengthening the connection between the Jewish people and the ancient past of the land of Israel.
Can we learn something from Aristotle about Israeli-Palestinian arguments? Who can persuade whom of what?
It's clear that Iran's strongest adversary today remains within its own borders. The current Iranian regime has far more to fear from its own people than it does from any foreign powers.
My friend and I had wanted to visit the famous Dome of the Rock, but it was closed because a few days earlier Palestinians had thrown rocks at Jews who had entered the sacred area to pray.
It is up to Obama to use the Prize as an opening to pursue truly transformational policies on the world stage regardless of the potential political cost to him.
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Ah the usual anti-Israeli hatred coming to the fore.
If the bigots actually paid attention to the FACTS, they'd see that no Israeli agents were trying to buy anything. It was FBI agents posing as Israeli agents who contacted him.
As http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10604427 states:
"The FBI stressed the Israeli government was not accused of attempting to gain information from the US."
And in point of fact, other allies have spied on the US, and the US has spied on its allies, including Israel. It's of course much harder to find links, since only Israel is blessed with the same amount of bigoted conspiracy nuts, but http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/sislev.htm is a sample, and more can be found if one digs.
You fail to mention the other salient facts here; The person in question worked as a "consultant" for an aerospace firm that was owned by the Israeli Government. As it turns out, a number of other people working for that firm have been charged with Espionage against the US for passing Intel to Israel. Strange that he also was arrested, but "not" for anything that involves Israel.
I can't understand the surprise people are expressing over this story? Allies spy on each other all the time. Maybe it was so easy for the FBI to get this guy because anyone in a position that requires top level security clearance KNOWS that Israeli recruitment of spies in America is common. For example, what if I am a Mexican-American scientist...would I be shocked to find someone posing as a representative from the Mexican government asking me to spy?
OK...who wants to 'splain why Israel is spying on us?
How many of the billions we give 'em go towards spying on us?
K, who wants to explain to Passenger57 that Israel had nothing to do with what this article reports. It was the FBI pretending to be an Israeli.
pkafin, why do you assume this is the first time? Do you know how many times the US has apprehended people spying for Israel in the past say 10 years? It is not an unusual thing for allies to spy on each other. It is actually quite common. That Israel was or was not directly involved in this man's case has YET to be seen.
Several other people working at the same Israeli government owned aerospace firm as consultants were charged with espionage for passing secrets to Israel. He was set up because his travel activities seemed to indicate that he was already selling classified intel.
He is quoted as saying that he already thought he was working as a spy for Israel simply as part of his job with the Israeli Aerospace firm.
So, no, I guess that does not really sound like Israel Is implicated here... NOT.
we don't execute spys anymore?
Good question. If they have no value as exchanges for our people, fry 'em.
Does this story make anyone wonder about the old saying my enemy is my best friend? What is up with the Israeli's and there spy machine?
Nothing is "up with the Israeli's and their spy machine". If you had read the article you would have realized that there is not a single Israeli involved in this story. This is not a story about Israel spying or attempting to spy on anyone. It is a story about the FBI catching a US citizen in a sting by pretending to be an Israeli.
He was a paid consultant for an Israeli defence company, which is were the suspicions began. Hes in it up to his neck, as is Israel.
there is a lot "up" with Israeli intelligence. Mossad is by far one of the best organized most effective intelligence agencies in the world. This is not a secret.
As for allies spying on each other, this is not uncommon. And again, we have yet to see if Israel was involved in this or not. I doubt we will ever know the truth about the story anyway...but regardless, we have dozens of examples of this taking place in America.
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