Paul

Any solution that vests sovereignty of 100% of the West Bank in Israeli hands will not be acceptable to the Arabs.

My solution – that could see sovereignty in about 85-90% of the West Bank vested in the bi-national state of Jordan might be acceptable to the Arabs.

Only negotiations can see whether such a solution is possible.

The chances of success are far better than the failed negotiations that have gone on for the last twenty years.

Gil

In negative mode again as usual.

Do I think it is progress when one Arab talks to another? Yes – especially when they are talking about sharing something that one previously claimed was his and his alone.

What is your objection to Jordan reinstating citizenship to people who enjoyed that status between 1950-1988?

What is your objection to my suggestion of a binational state in the West Bank and Jordan to replace the demands of separate states in those areas and restore the status quo that existed between 1950-67 so far as is now possible given the changed circumstances on the ground?

Are you interested in seeing conflict perpetuated or ended?

Come up with a better proposal if you can

As my heading states – Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.

Here you go again.

Further progress you say, but I say progress in what?

The fact that Abdullah and Abbas are playing nice to each other seems to make you hysterical with joy. You think it progress that both Arabs reaffirm “Jordan’s custodianship of the Holy Places in Jerusalem” is something Israel in particular and Jews in general should jump up and down with joy about?

I would remind you that the only “holy” place for Arabs is in Mecca.

The Palestinians play soccer and have barbeques on the Temple Mount, an area which, but for a foolish halachic ruling following the 1967 war (a ruling which is not universally supported today), Israel granted control of this holiest of JEWISH sites to the Muslim Waqf.

Arab schoolchildren are being taught the vilest hate towards Jews ensuring the next generation of Jew haters are alive and well and you think it progress that one Arab talks to another!

Your final conclusion that “Pandemonium or progress are the stark choices now confronting the PLO and Jordan” is the most absurd thing I have ever read.

And as for the wishful thinking quotes (spreading joy to the maximum etc.), I would remind you that we are talking here about the Middle East where harsh reality rules the day.

But apart from the intransigence and mohammmedan solidarity in calling for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital – something they’ll get when hell freezes over – why should Jordanian citizens living in Judea and Samaria also have political control of those areas. They can have self-government and Israel must have the right to repatriate to Jordan those of them who abuse the privileges granted by the Jewish state to demiliterised enclaves where 95% of them reside.

Now that would be a win-win-win all round. The Arabs living in cities in Judea and Samaria could stay where are (if they behave), Jordan could have an increased population without having to absorb a couple of million of its citizens who are hostile to the monarchy and Israel would retain control of its ancestral lands necessary for its security, while at the same time being freed of administrative responsibilities toward those Arabs.