“About 40 years back, Arabs concluded that they would never be able to lick Israel militarily…”

I don’t believe Arabs think this way anymore, post Hizbollah’s victory in both 2000 and 2006 (I know the cost was high etc). Israel’s deterrence has never been weaker and the likelihood of them regaining it any time soon is not on the cards. It matters not that they have nukes: The Afghan Mujahideen kicked ass against the nuclear soviet union after all.

I think these days, even though Israeli society is indeed disintegrating right before our appalled eyes, Arabs aren’t waiting around for this to fully happen.

There is a definite collective understanding and will that a military solution to the Israeli problem is the only one left. It’s just a question of (short) time.

Maybe just a little – but that’s your prerogative.

Fact is, in the middle east, zionism and Judaism ARE conflated by BOTH sides when it comes to political discourse. You do know that the word ‘Arab’ in Israel is used like the ‘N’ word in America, right? And all of us on this site know that not all Jews but MOST Jews are zionists. Now the minority who are not, are impotent to change the reckless political course that the rest of their ‘tribe’ are on. They too are victims by association. However, the bulk of my attention and empathy is usually reserved for those who truly, truly suffer UNDER zionism, not alongside it.

Walid, again I appreciate your even-handedness, I actually learned a thing or two from you and this only from a brief exchange.

Any thoughts on how you think a peace process can be started? We seem to spend so much time talking about what’s broken in the I/P conflict that we forget we’re supposed to be looking for solutions.

As to Madoff, being Jewish had nothing to do with it. You surely know about the Lebanese Madoff knock-off, Izzedine that ponzied the Lebanese Shia out of $400 million and he wasn’t Jewish. Neither was Arafat. I wasn’t tooting the Jews’ horn since they do it themselves all the time but simply saying that while all Zionists are Jews, not all Jews are Zionists and this must be kept in mind when we see the suffering of the Palestinians. Prince Turki isn’t Jewish and neither is Mubarak.

Of course! Everyone knows that Israel is a favorite ‘escape issue’ of every conflict in the middle east whether Arabs against Turks, Arabs against Arabs, Arabs against Persians, or Arabs against the Kurds, etc. They must be’ idiots’ if they are not going to prepare for any eventuality of war whenever middle east conflicts arise.

It was ALWAYS about the ‘Axis of Evil’ with Bush – that’s all he ever talked about to anyone who would listen. Blair listened. Israel cheered and provided intelligence to both countries re Saddam: Israel’s Major threat.

It’s all in there – in that bizarrely volunteered Blair statement.

I doubt they DIDN’T bring up the issue of Iraq.

What the fuck else was there to talk about in those heady days?!

Not the elusive Osama, that’s for sure. They didn’t wanna talk about him. But they did want to talk about Saddam, Saddam, and one more time: Saddam.

You can’t debate people who lie constantly, behave schizophrenically or are just generally insincere. Who won’t admit when they are wrong. People who are obviously racists – and not simply ‘racist’ because you don’t like their politics (antisemitism card).

My only real complaints….I kind of wish we could post pictures and overall – had a forum-like commenting system.