US President George W Bush has said Israel must end occupation of Arab land taken in 1967 so that a viable Palestinian state can be created.
If this is true, and he applies pressure on Israel, financial pressure to back up his request, it would immediately make him the most popular president in recent times amongst Muslims. It sounds almost obscene, especially given his past performances and the obscenities committed in going to Iraq and destroying that once proud country, but to hear such a demand from the mouth of a US president is tantamount to a miracle.He is also talking about financial settlements instead of the right to return. Long a contentious issue, this might be the one on which long-suffering Palestinians have to sadly, cede more ground.I wait more news on this with baited breath. Could I even dare imagine this to be true?Update:The article has since been updated and now also adds from Bush:
These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure recognised and defensible borders and they must ensure the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent.
The key word being “contiguous”. (I wonder if he even knows what that means)I don’t think he does, because sadly, this is also part of what’s on the table and in my book, is the goat poo in the milk pail:
He also said a peace agreement would require mutually agreed adjustments to the pre-1967 boundaries “to reflect current realities” - a reference to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Those settlements need to be torn down. The problem is that Israel is building settlements in occupied territories and mounting raids on Gaza and killing children and oppressing a nation even while these talks go on.I will rein in my optimism for the meantime, but I will never give up hope.Update 2What I really want of course, is that which appears impossible at the moment: The establishment of a single state in pre-1948 Palestine and for all the refugees to be able to return.Update 3I’ve thought about this. Nothing has really changed. Palestinians are still getting screwed over and Bush and his Zionist cohorts in Israel are still a bunch of lying, murdering rapists. That’s my reasoned and considered opinion by the way.
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