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8 Responses to “Gershom Gorenberg Traces History of Israeli Settler Movement at Seattle Talk”

1. David says:

   April 3, 2006 at 11:24 AM

   Don’t you think acknowledging legitimate existence should precede any peace talks? I mean, this debate is starting to sound like a logic puzzle: Can you negotiate with the leader of a nation that you don’t believe exists? Seriously though, the right to exist shouldn’t be on the table.

   Reply
2. Richard Silverstein says:

   April 3, 2006 at 5:00 PM

   Would I prefer Hamas to recognize Israel before peace talks began? Sure. That’s infinitely preferable to the current situation. But does the current formal non-recognition (whereas informally Hamas deals w. Israel everyday & de facto does recognize it) preclude peace negotiations? Not at all.

   I still like Clinton’s formulation in another recent post I wrote: “No to violence; yes to negotiation.” Those are the only 2 things I need fr. Hamas before negotiations begin.

   Reply
3. David says:

   April 3, 2006 at 5:26 PM

   Hamas still falls short of “no to violence”. As I wrote in a previous post, Hamas supported last week’s attack. It’s unreasonable to expect Israel to negotiate with a group that believes the random killing of civilians is justified.

   Reply
4. Jared says:

   April 3, 2006 at 8:58 PM

   side question:

   Jonah managed to get into TOPS, now what about Janis?IDid she secure the job? Hoping for that.God bless.

   Reply
5. Richard Silverstein says:

   April 3, 2006 at 11:01 PM

   David: You’re making an awfully big jump in saying “Hamas supported last week’s attack.” First, Hamas had nothing to do with the attack itself. Second, it did not affirmatively support it. It just didn’t denounce it as Abbas did. There is a difference.

   But to the larger issue you raise–yes, Hamas is not ready to say no to violence and this is a problem. It retains the right to use violence as a legitimate form of resistance. That being said, Hamas has not used violence for over a year and I see no expectation that this will change for the foreseeable future. That is, unless Olmert moves forward with his foolhardy plan to set Israel’s international border unilaterally along the route of the Separation Wall. Any number of Israeli provocations could turn things around on the ceasefire front. That’s why Israel is absolutely foolhardy in delaying about trying to probe and engage Hamas to determine its willingness to enter into serious final status negotiations.

   Reply
6. Andrew Schamess says:

   April 4, 2006 at 3:06 AM

   I say this tongue-in-cheek… But maybe what Hamas should do is offer to recognize a demilitarized Jewish state, which would encompass isolated Jewish population blocks west of the Green Line. Hamas would insist on keeping the entire seacoast and control of the wester aquifer, however, and on building Palestininan-only roads that connect Palestinian settlements west of the Green Line to Jerusalem – the Palestinian capital.

   That would acheive approximate parity between the Israeli and Palestinian positions.

   Hamas could say it was willing – once the Israelis were competely disarmed – to negotiate on issues like the size and configuration of Jewish territory, whether they were permitted to have an airport, and how Bersheeba and Rehovot could be linked to each other by roads without compromising Palestinian security.

   Just a thought.

   Reply
7. Ron says:

   April 4, 2006 at 6:03 PM

   Just a feedback. I noticed you complained that nobody visit your site, so I just wonted to take a look.
   I am Israeli-Russian with good background in the ME. I don’t know how to say it, but your site is pretty boring. Your ideas are very ordinary and not very up to date. My opinion is not many people who know ME will visit, couse you judge the conflict without direct knowledge.
   If possible visit Israel and the most important try to talk to as many Israelis you can in order to be sharper. Sorry, I am too short, just you asked for feedback. Good Luck!

   Reply
8. Richard Silverstein says:

   April 4, 2006 at 8:32 PM

   I didn’t ask for yr feedback & it’ll get precisely as much attention as it deserves.

   If you choose to dismiss my ideas you’re more than welcome to visit the scores, if not hundreds of sites more right wing than mine where I’m sure you’ll find pleasant company.

   700 people visit my site each day some who are quite familiar w. the ME and some who are not. I’m quite happy w. that number though every blogger wishes for more traffic than they have.

   You’re pretty dim if you believe I’ve never visited or lived in Israel and that I haven’t talked to Israelis. In fact, I have mentioned that I’ve lived in Israel for 2 years, visited several times and speak fluent Hebrew. But you were probably too bored by what you read here to bother reading that portion of my blog.

   just you asked for feedback

   In fact, I didn’t ask for feedback and certainly not fr. you. Goodbye!

   Reply