Apparently there are those besides myself who disagree, including some higher-ups at NBC who seemed to think it was a pro-Hamas rant.
I'm not sure why others agreeing with you should matter. Oh, wait, I forgot, you're all about the dynamics of
group agreement, where if a lot of people agree on something, then there must be something to it - they can't all be wrong, right?
So we're to believe that your experience with and knowledge of middle eastern affairs eclipses that of Charles Krauthammer??
No, you shouldn't. Don't know where you'd get such a notion, either. Oh, wait, you probably just interpreted what I said to mean something I didn't say.
He's known for many things such as winning the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, but not for publishing "misrepresentations and outright falsehoods". Maybe there are a few other members of the forum that would like to see these refutations of "each and every ridiculous claim" in Krauthammer's column. Get yourself some Red Bull or 5 Hour Energy.
I read him a lot and enjoy his writings, but don't think for a minute that he's unbiased. Yes, he is known for many things, not the least of which is very pro-Zionist anti-Palestinian stance on that region. Everything he writes with respect to the Middle East is from that position.
If you've got facts to throw, then have at it. It might make a difference - it just depends on whether they're actual facts or your facts.
Oh, you say that, but historically it hasn't mattered with you. You make an assertion, I refute it with facts, and you either dismiss or ignore them and plow right along, weeks or months later making the same assertion. You're more interested in the convenient facts, and not so much in the inconvenient ones. So you say it might make a difference, but with you it so rarely does.
Your "little nugget" misrepresents what Krauthammer says; in the article Krauthammer states there IS no occupation; he also says there WAS no blockade. That was in the beginning, until Hamas started bringing in arms and munitions for their terrorist activities. Who can blame Israel and Egypt for putting a stop to that?
The blockade has been there in one form or another for many years. When Israel and Egypt have (and has had) total control over anything and everything that moves in and out of Gaza, to not call that a blockade is a falsehood. By definition a blockade is the surrounding of, closing off, or isolation of a place in order to prevent or control entry or exit. That's exactly what Israel and Egypt have been and are doing.
Not there's a ridiculous claim if ever there was one, probably straight out of the PLO propaganda book. The Palestinian people might want a two state solution, but for some reason they keep putting people in leadership positions who do not.
Make no mistake, I'm not defending the Palestinians at all. I simply look for the truth, and know that Israel is not pure as the driven sand in all this. The Palestinians have certainly rejected proposals, but they have accepted proposals in which Israel has changed the conditions at the last minute. They did that very thing a few months ago.
A two state solution will never happen over there. Both parties have been playing like they want it, but neither does. The Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the Palestinians demands, make that abundantly clear. They both lay claim to the land, when the reality is neither of them can claim it to the exclusion of the other. Both religions claim historical ownership, but the archeological evidence, along with the overwhelming majority of Biblical scholars, says they've both been there since the earliest of recorded history. Heck the Exodus never even happened. Who's right and who's wrong depends solely on which name you like on the front of the jersey. I'm for drawing a line across the middle and saying, "You guys get this half, and you guys get that half. Now shut up."
"Why do the Palestinians refuse a negotiated peace? Because a negotiated peace means the end of the conflict, or at least promising to end the conflict and accept Israel. But the Palestinian leadership wants a state so that they can continue the conflict from a stronger position. In particular, they want a state and they want to keep pressing in every way for the "right of return" to Israel.
Israel would not agree to that in negotiations, which is why Palestinians want a state without negotiations, and without having to make any compromises.
In accord with this, at least three times the Palestinians have refused statehood when it was offered to them, most recently just a few years ago...
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=83&x_article=2116
Alex Safian. That's rich. No, he's not biased at all, and he would never, ever write anything that would falsely represent Israel as the victim or made it look like Israel is the happy go luck guy just trying to get along and make peace.