I agree: Jews should be concerned about the prospect of living together with Arabs in a single state. Their respective histories have been deeply troubled. So should Arabs be concerned living in a single state with Jews. For the same reason.

The problem I have with yr perspective is that it sees the sins on one side only. The sins are on both sides. If there WERE ever to be a 1 state solution (not saying there ever will be) it would have to ensure the ironclad rights of whatever group happened to be the minority & it would have to guarantee the independence of the various organs of government along w. checks & balances as in the American system.

Neither Mary Hughes-Thompson nor the writer of the Ha’aretz article claiming that religous Jews are now supposedy able to violate the Sabbath in pursuit of building settlements knows anything about Jewish law. The work is done by non-Jews. Normally, non-Jews are not permitted to work for Jews on the Shabbat, except under certain well-defined conditions, and building one’s home in Eretz Israel is one of them. There is nothing remarkable or original in this ruling.

However, David’s larger point is well taken.

“These people don’t care at all about the suffering of the Palestinians. The just want to posture as ‘heroic Jews’.”

A harsh and troubling generalization, but it contains very much more than a grain of truth. I include Brit Tzedek, Americans for Peace Now and Israel Policy Forum among groups that have members and policies that prove this statement is sadly more the rule than the exception.

BTW, Mearsheimer and Walt are giving a talk in Tel Aviv tonight.

IS THE ISRAEL LOBBY GOOD OR BAD FOR ISRAEL?

A public debate, with the participation of the American professors
JOHN MEARSHEIMER (University of Chicago)
STEPHEN WALT (Harvard University)
the authors of “THE ISRAEL LOBBY” which created a storm in the United States, Thursday, June 12, 2008, at 8pm, BET SOKOLOV Press Club, 4, Kaplan Street…

An article in today’s Haarertz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992214.html gives an example of the lengths to which settlers go to continue in the face of Israeli law and even their own religious laws:

“Rabbi: Religious settlers can violate Shabbat to build:
Concerns that the High Court of Justice might put a stop to the construction of new homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra have led to the extraordinary step of keeping the work going seven days a week, irrespective of the religious prohibition against labor on Shabbat”

After the histrionics that accompanied disengagement from Gaza, I doubt anyone seriously believes Israel will remove its settlements from the West Bank, and without their removal there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell there could be a Palestinian state. There’s nothing there with which to make one. Palestinians can’t get from one place to another because of the network of roads and settlements from which they are denied access.

So it has become increasingly clear to many people, including Saree Makdisi, that it will have to be one state. I agree with Peter H that people like Bar_Kochba132 already favor one state. They make no secret of what they want: “Transfer” is a word often used for what Israel would like to do to Palestinians and even to its own Arab population. What zionist Israel wants is all of the land with none of its people (except Jews)

It’s ironic that Israel has created the monster which could destroy it as a “Jewish” state. In time it could actually become a democracy.

But she said it herself, her bookstore is not a place for free speech. A shining example for bibliophiles everywhere. I hope her patrons realize that’s her position on free speech in her establishment.

You make a very serious error if you believe that Carla supports J Street & if you confuse her views of the I-P conflict with J Street’s views. To her, J Street would be a slightly less other-worldly Jewish experience than hearing Walt-Mearsheimer talk.

I don’t agree that the “vast majority of Israelis view one-statism as a code word for throwing Jews into the sea.” The vast majority of Israelis who don’t understand the diff. bet. a 2 state and a one state position may feel this way. But that is not a “vast majority.” And just because someone BELIEVES something doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about. One state simply means that Israel will not be a Jewish state and that Jews will be living along with Arabs in a single state. If you or anyone who believes what you wrote above confuses that for being thrown into the sea it only means that they don’t have a clue about what they’re talking about. Or else they’re Arabaphobes who believes these people are the devil incarnate.

How many people in OTHER countries would view discussion of the dissilution of their state as a “legitimate” position?

It happens quite often actually. Take Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. What’s going to happen to northern Ireland? Will it remain separate? Be absorbed into the Republic? What about West & East Germany?

I am not saying the majority of Israelis will ever support a one state solution. That’s why I think it won’t be successful & why I support 2 states.

Carla doesn’t have to like their book. But if she wants to diss it she has to accurately characterize its arguments. Otherwise, she’s not credible.