By Sam Wechsler – Talk Radio News Service

A series of recently released poll results suggest there may be peace in the Middle East in the near future. Nader Said, the General Director for Arab World for Research and Development, shared during a briefing that 78% of Israelis and 74% of Palestinians are willing to accept a two-state solution. He also stated that 95% of Israelis and 92% of Palestinians are willing to accept negotiated peace.

James Zogby, Founder and President of the Arab-American Institute said Arab-Americans and Jewish-Americans agree “on almost every issue, to the degree whereby [their] attitudes are within the margin of error of each other on almost all questions.”

Zogby also stated that the most troubling information he gathered was the partisan split in American opinion over the Arab-Israeli conflict: 70% of Obama supporters in the most recent Presidential election believe the President should “get tough on [Jewish] settlements [in the West Bank]”, whereas 71% of McCain supporters believe the President should not.

Jim Gerstein, Principal at Gerstein Agne, said that in a July 2008 poll, Jewish-Americans were asked what the two most important issues they would be voting on were. Only 8% cited the Arab-Israeli conflict as one of the two most important issues. In addition, 72% of Jewish-Americans approve of President Obama’s approach to the conflict.

By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) responds to President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo and that it is a mistake to put on the same basis the Israelis and the terrorists. Boehner also criticizes President Obama’s position towards Guantanamo bay and Iran.

 

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By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News Service

Today former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed to members of Congress his support of a two state
peace solution between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Speaking to the U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, Blair said that he looks at the Middle East with the eyes of an optimist.

Significant arguments over territory, refugees, security and water in the region, Blair said, “although immensely challenging, are resolvable.”

He said that if the possibility of a two state solution became a reality, a majority of Palestinian and Israeli citizens would support it.

Blair currently serves as Quartet Representative and was in Washinton to promote the Quartet objectives. He is responsible for revitalizing the Palestinian economy and promoting the Quartet objectives. In his written statement to the Committee, Blair said “The opportunity is there. But it won’t remain if not seized. As President Obama has recognized, this is the right time to seize it.”

Committee member Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said that “a peace settlement would require Israeli and Palestinian leaders with thin majorities to get beyond calculations designed to protect their own political interests.” Lugar also said the United States would have to be “very active and very creative” as they aided in the progress toward a settlement.

Blair said that leaders need to make sincere efforts to “reinvigorate the credibility” of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to “The only unity that works is a unity of genuine agreement,” he said.

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Tony Blair testified Thursday people want a two state solution but simply don’t know how to resolve the well-known issues surrounding it. (1:24)

 

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Aida Touma-Sleiman, Director of Women Against Violence in Nazareth, discusses how she believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right wing rhetoric make intolerance towards Palestinians acceptable in Israel. She cites the role that Avigdor Lieberman was given in the Israeli government. (0:36)

 

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By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

The Obama administration is no different than its predecessor when it comes to providing intelligence and military aid to Israel, an action that continues to hamper positive U.S. relations with other Middle East countries. That is the opinion of representatives of the Council For the National Interest, which conducted a public hearing to discuss the implications of current U.S. military aid to countries in the Middle East.

“The Obama administration has shipped replacement munitions that were used up in Gaza, very high-tech missiles and that sort of thing, to Israel in an emergency effort just about 10-days ago,” said Eugene Bird, President for the Council of National Interest. “I think this reflects that the Obama administration – with regard to the re-supply of Israel – is no different than the Bush administration.”

Some speakers suggested the United States should re-evaluate its unconditional support of Israel, especially within the current political identity.

“We do not sell arms to Israel, we give arms to Israel,” said Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force. Additionally, the Israeli government decides how it wants to utilize the resources and funds given by the U.S. “There is no purchase involved, which is a nice thing. It’s a blank check, and, as you know, that blank check is delivered on the first day of the fiscal year, October 1st, and the Israeli’s can then earn interest on this money while they decide how to spend it… (This) is not necessarily in our interests,” Peck said.

Bird estimates that over the next 10-years the U.S. will give Israel $30 billion to Israel and “that there will be 150,000 more Jewish colonists on the West Bank during that period… The American taxpayer, over the years and in the future, will be paying about $200,000 for each colonist that is placed on Arab land and which destroys the chances for a two-state solution.”

Israeli peace activist, journalist and writer, Uri Avnery said, “I think American arms to Israel should be conditioned…so that the peace agreement will be signed between Israel and the Palestinian people, hopefully a Palestinian unity government including both Fatah and Hamas – I would (expect such results) by the end of 2009 or the middle of 2010 not later.”

Some say that the Middle East is an issue of which Americans remain uninformed and that American politicians view the subject as a killer of constituent support.

Peck blamed said that the lack of information available was a result of the pro-Israel lobby. “They don’t allow anyone else to talk….We’ve been silenced. We are not allowed to criticize Israel. You’re instantly an anti-Semite if you do, He said. “In Israel you are allowed to criticize Israel government policy…but you cannot do it here without provoking a fire-stone.”

By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

Eugene Bird, President of the Council for the National Interest made this distinction at a public hearing today held by the Council for the National Interest on the implications of the current U.S. Military Aid to the Middle East. He said, “The Obama administration with regard to the re-supply of Israel, regardless of what she does, regardless of how she uses the weapons, is no different than the Bush administration.”

 

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By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

At a public hearing on current U.S. Military Aid to the Middle East, retired Ambassador Edward Peck said that the fighting in Gaza is not a war. He said, “That wasn’t a war. There are not two armies fighting there. There was a huge powerful army, armed, financed and equipped by us, kicking the crappe, that’s a French word, c-r-a-p-p-e, kicking the crappe out of a helpless, defenseless people, who had nothing to fight back with.”

 

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The Center for American Progress held a discussion today on “Prospects for a Two-State Solution: Understanding Challenges and Creating Opportunities.” Retired Israeli Brigadier General Ilan Paz, former head of the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank and Ghaith al-Omari, advocacy director of the American Task Force on Palestine and former adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke on the current outlook and prospects fora peaceful two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Both speakers called for policy changes on both sides. Gen. Paz suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will want strong guidelines from the U.S. as the coalition government he will form will most likely be right-wing and oppose a two-state solution. Furthermore, he stated that Hamas is an obstacle to this process, and ideally Abbas will be given an opportunity to create a Palestinian unity government.

al-Omari stated that Israel must allow for more freedom of movement in the Palestinian territories and remove some checkpoints. Furthermore, he believes that while Hamas must be isolated, the people of Gaza should not suffer; humanitarian aid, he stated, cannot be politicized. He believes that on the Palestinian side, there needs to be a new government that is committed to reforms in security and counterterrorism.

Today, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) held a discussion on their recent trip to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza strip. They shared footage of the destruction they witnessed and people they spoke to in the Gaza strip. Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) stated, “There clearly is a role for outside help… The United States is not helping enough. We should have been involved in stopping the rockets… The United States could and should be doing more to stop that. The United States could and should be doing more to help with the communication on the reconstructive aid.”

After their trip to the region, the Congressmen are recommending that Israel open the five crossings from Israel into Gaza to allow more transfer of goods and necessities in order for Gaza to rebuild. Rep. Ellison gave two reasons for this recommendation: “If we open up the crossings, we can cut down on the traffic in the tunnels and therefore make sure that nothing goes through those tunnels that will endanger Israeli security, or, by the way, Gazan security… But also, to address the desperate humanitarian conditions we saw in Gaza.” Their conclusion in this discussion was that the cycle of violence is not good for security or prosperity, and that with the opening of the borders, improvements in Gaza residents’ lives would bring pressure against Hamas from its own constituency which it currently does not feel.