Saturday October 6, 2007, 11:19 pm
ummmmm, is this a joke?

Sunday October 7, 2007, 12:36 am
Great article, more people should protest the destruction of Palestine.

Sunday October 7, 2007, 3:09 am
And send all Jews to Alaska or Canada?

Sunday October 7, 2007, 10:07 am
We are;lost in space:Day by day...East-West,North-South.Confusion growing(not like a snowball) a bloody avalanche.People are Crazy&Time is Stange...
Love&Peace

Sunday October 7, 2007, 4:07 pm
Too stupid to respond to....

Sunday October 7, 2007, 11:26 pm
Mimi,
I think Ahmadinejad's statement about relocating the Jews was more about making a point rather than a practical suggestion. The conflict between Israel and the rest of the Middle East can't be solved by violence or by ignoring the realities of the conflict. To solve this conflict, a lot of issue that people don't want to talk about, will have to be addressed. The violence comes from both sides and acts as a distraction that prevents any productive communication toward solving the real problems. The attacks against Israel are absolutely counterproductive to the Palestinian cause, but at the same time, Israel is on a path to it's own destruction driven by their hostility toward the Palestinians and their inability to control settlers expanding Israel's borders. I'm not talking about a physical destruction, but a political one. The problem with solving the conflict is complex. The Palestinians will have to feel they have received a fair compromise before the conflict ends. The major obstacle is that Israeli officials do not have the political power to make the concessions necessary for a fair compromise. The reason they don't have that political power is in how Israel is portrayed as the victim, and how the Israeli people react to being attacked because of that. The claim that Israel was attacked immediately after it's creation is basically true, but in order to create Israel, Palestine was wiped off the map. The Palestinians do launch attacks against Israel, and sometimes even hit something, on the other hand, Israel crushes the Palestinians with massive military strikes. It is understandable for the Israeli's to be angry about being attacked, but the exact same thing holds true for the Palestinians. When you consider that the anger would be proportional to the devastation of the attacks, you should expect the Palestinians to be demanding retaliation far greater than the demands of the Israeli's. The conflict hasn't been solved because the leaders on both sides are caving into the demands of the people in order to maintain their authority and standing as leaders with the people. The ability to solve this conflict is more about how it is portrayed, the opinions people have about what should be done, and how that effects a leaders ability to address the root problems. I often point out how Israel has been unjustified in their actions, and how the very creation of Israel has been the root of many of the conflicts in the region, not because I am in anyway against the Jewish people, but because the Israeli's need to be in a moral position that motivates them to demand their leaders make concessions to satisfy the Palestinians. The balance of public opinion in favor of Israel is preventing Israel from being able to create the proper conditions for peaceful relations.
I'd like to hear other people's opinions about this.

I can't resist...
With a sarcastic smile I must say...I wont comment on the irony of Rochelle's response.

Monday October 8, 2007, 12:05 am
Actually, James, I agree with nearly everything that you say. Surprised? ;>) It's not the Israeli people who are so dug into this impossible and ugly situation. The vast majority of Israelis would trade all kinds of land for peace, and I'll bet that most Palestinians would rather come to a peaceful situation, too. The Israeli leaders, dragged by the nosehairs by the political party Shas, into continuing the harsh mesures that cause the average Palestinian so much misery.

Monday October 8, 2007, 12:18 am
("measures," oops.)

Somehow, a break needs to be created from the real fear of Israelis of the bombs that the violent among the Palestinians deliberately throw at the Israeli civilians every day and the understandable rage that the Palestinians feel about the measures that Israel takes to stop the violence coming from the Palestinians. A viscious circle here; so the Israelis do things like shutting the Palestinians off from so many necessities, so the Palestinians throw more bombs, so then the Israelis tighten things up further, which further inflames the Palestinians who throw more bombs, so then the Israelis bulldoze houses to stop the bombers ----it looks like we're again facing the abyss that Yitzchak Rabin talked about. It does look as though he was right unfortunately; a truce leading to a peace agreement can only come when both sides are too afraid to continue the madness.

Tuesday October 9, 2007, 1:23 pm
No Rochelle, I'm not surprised, I have a lot of faith in people, and also looked at your profile. I see a lot of conflict between people, over Israel, where it is really not justified. Regular people here at care2 have been at odds, mostly over misunderstandings, stereo types and labels that lead to people making a lot of false assumptions about each other. These labels and stereo types are some of or biggest obstacles in communication because of the way information is filtered through emotions. To move forward I think we all need to abandon the ideas of "pro-Palestine" and "pro-Israel" and move toward being united as pro-Peace where we can all work together and see each others intentions more clearly.

The incident at Columbia University is a good example of how the power of emotions has been used to control opinions and information. The main issue the media was trying to focus on was if Ahmadinejad should have been allowed to speak there. The significance of that is in who has been allowed to "inform" the people of Ahmadinejad's intentions and views. The media, in cooperation with the 'right' of both Israel and America, has maintained control of how Ahmadinejad's statements are interpreted, what statements the people get to hear, and how those interpretations support the claims they are making about Iran's intentions for Israel, the nuclear program, and the Holocaust conference. The political right does not want people to listen to Ahmadinejad question what the Holocaust had to do with the Palestinians, so they explain to the people that he is questioning the Holocaust and then the people don't feel as though they don't need to listen any further, they know it happened. The right-wing media focused on the statement about homosexuals and and the issue of allowing Ahmadinejad to speak, because most of what Ahmadinejad said was not what the media has been trying to convince us to believe. The people who are trying to wage war are by far the most unreliable source for accurate information about the people they are trying to wage war against, but accurate information is not what they are interested in, the reputation of their side, and the case for war is. Some of the media reported about the opening statements, repeated the previous claims, and then completely skipped Ahmadinejad's statements that dismissed these distorted and inaccurate claims. This is how propaganda works, it is about using emotions and distractions to manipulate public opinion. The case for war against Iran is built on one distorted statement after another, these claims rely on the people to look no further into the issue and to filter each new piece of information through the negative emotions caused in the portrayal of the last claim.

Some Israeli news agencies and officials are demanding Security Counsel action against Ahmadinejad based on their claims that he is calling for genocide against the Jews. They do not expect to be taken serious by the UN, that isn't the purpose of these demands, the purpose is to establish that their claims of Ahmadinejad's intentions are real without debating these claims, to play on the emotions of the people by eliciting visions of a new Holocaust, and portraying Iran as a threat that justifies any means of attack. This is similar to Bush demanding that Saddam hand over his nuclear weapons, rather than simply claiming that he had them. Propaganda is a game to these people, the only real purpose is to manipulate public opinion, because, that is what controls a democracy.