France at it again

Interesting to see that the French foreign ministers (Mr de Villepin) agenda on his visit to the middle east. His talks in Ramallah on Monday will be with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas - aka Abu Mazen, foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, but also with Yasser Arafat.
Yasser Arafat is generally regarded as a man who's time has passed, because of his support for terrorist organisations. Time for a fresh start.

Surely this is the wrong time to be stirring things, especially as France claims to be acting for the EU - why not let the two Prime ministers talk to each other first? A US summit would be an excellent idea to try and push everything forward, with concessions made on both sides.

It's obvious that despite the words between Mr de Villepin and US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Paris on Friday, there is still a huge difference with the US.

Maybe France is right, but I wonder what their hidden agenda is this time :(

It looks like Sharon's Cabinet approved the Mideast road map by margin of 12 votes to 7. In theory the ball should begin to roll here.

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A US summit would be an excellent idea to try and push everything forward, with concessions made on both sides.

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I agree, and there has been some talk of this now that everyone has agreed to go forward. Maybe we should fly them all into Camp David soon.

Always be cautiously optimistic when it comes to this issue. Many times in the past the Israelis have made concessions only to be bombed over and over again.

Sharon has recently said that it is in their best interest to push ahead with an independent Palestianian state, especially since the U.S. backs it in the "roadmap". The Israeli's don't want to strain U.S. ties, not now anyway.

This is the first time Ariel Sharon or any Israeli of importance has actually adm9itted that the Palestinians shold get their own state. IMO the next few steps must be taken on the part of the Palestinians to stop the attacks and reign in the terrorists. I guess we'll see if Abu Mazen is the real thing or not.

If this happens then all should be good in Israel, if it doesn't. then I'd expect a total breakdown of all talks and they'll end up right back in the crap they've been in.


May peace prevail.

Your right KorpDeath, from what i understand Sharon accepted the "roadmap", but added 15 or so "reservation's", so there are still a few kink's to work out.

<sidenote>

Does anybody know how far along the Israeli's are on that big concrete/electric fence? In my opinion that is a great idea, and could cut down on alot of these "homicide" bombing's. Although nothing's full-proof, the Israeli's have the best security setup in the world, and alot of these terrorist are still getting through.

Caution is the byword in the whole of the middle east, not just Israel. Maybe things will be different this time, and then again...

*news flash music begins to play*....... Ok, not that funny. :p

This just in!

I just saw on the new's, where they will indeed be holding a summit sometime in the next few week's, somewhere in Jordan(not sure which city). Those in attendance will be U.S, Abu Mazin, Israel, and the King of Jordan. We'll have to see what transpires. :)

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Originally posted here by KorpDeath
Always be cautiously optimistic when it comes to this issue. Many times in the past the Israelis have made concessions only to be bombed over and over again.

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I'm only new here (and love the place!) and don't wanna "rock the boat" so to speak.......BUT... could you please point out exactly what concessions Israel has made in the past? I understand that they recently voted to grant a Palestine state. It's the first time EVER in history that Israel has said it would recognise a Palestinian state. Only 12 out of the 23 members of the Israeli senate that voted actually voted for this. Other than that I haven't really been aware of any concessions made by the Israelis... :confused:

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I'm only new here (and love the place!) and don't wanna "rock the boat" so to speak.......BUT... could you please point out exactly what concessions Israel has made in the past? I understand that they recently voted to grant a Palestine state. It's the first time EVER in history that Israel has said it would recognise a Palestinian state. Only 12 out of the 23 members of the Israeli senate that voted actually voted for this. Other than that I haven't really been aware of any concessions made by the Israelis...

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Perhap's you havent been following the issue closely over the past few years. :rolleyes:

Do you remember when Barak offered 97% of what the Palestinian's wanted? Guess what the response was: the entifada!! Which mind you, continues today.

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Originally posted here by FrameWork


Do you remember when Barak offered 97% of what the Palestinian's wanted?

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Sadly, I don't remember any of that. You can either blame that on years of alcohol abuse on my behalf or wild exaggerations on your behalf. Perhaps, instead of just posting an emoticon that rolls it's eyes you could actually post a link or something that proves your 97% theory? :rolleyes:

Ok, wait just one sec, a simple google search should do fine. :o

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Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's assessment of Palestinian requests to remove Jewish settlements in the territories was, "Is the issue of removing settlements really relevant now? It's not on our agenda. Ehud Barak offered Arafat 97% of the territories, including our Holiest of Holies. Arafat's reply was to unleash violence."

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There's one, from bridgesforpeace.