#To Yuyutsu

Based on the current polical view of the current Government in Israel - I do not believe the West Bank is regarded as a burden by the majority of Israelis.

Israel will not be ceding its claims to all of the West Bank in any negotiations. This has been made abundantly clear in the two offers made by Israel in 2000/2001 and 2008 by Governments of different political persuasion to the current government.

Negotiations are a must to settle the allocation of sovereignty in the West Bank between Jews and Arabs. The incompetent Palestinian Authority has thrown away the opportunities afforded to it over the last 19 years.

It is now Jordan's turn to see if it can do better.

#To david f

Another large step forward by you - no state between Israel and Jordan for the recently created post-1950 Palestinian people.

A secular democratic state is a great concept in theory - but totally irrelevant when talking about the right in international law of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in former Palestine also known as Eretz Yisrael - the biblical and ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.

Also a no show whilst both the PLO and Hamas want to kick the Jews out of their existing homes. Until Jew-hating is dead your plan hasn't a chance of getting up. In the meantime do you want the killing to continue or do you seriously want to see it ended.?

I see no other way forward at the present time other than direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan.

Perhaps your efforts to create secular democratic states might be better addressed to the 57 Islamic states around the world. Have you ever expressed your thoughts on the issue by writing to the thousands of Islamic web sites flourishing within each of these countries spewing out their Jew hatred daily?

David Singer wrote: Another large step forward by you - no state between Israel and Jordan for the recently created post-1950 Palestinian people.

Dear David,

The fact is that they exist now. How recently they were created doesn't matter.

You wrote:

A secular democratic state is a great concept in theory - but totally irrelevant when talking about the right in international law of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in former Palestine also known as Eretz Yisrael - the biblical and ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.

Dear David,

Because one's ancestors may have lived in a place a long time gives one no rights to claim land. Mussolini called the Mediterranean Mare Nostrum because of the Roman Empire. Israel exists because the military is able to hold the law. Irredentism is not a feature of international law.

you wrote:

I see no other way forward at the present time other than direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan.

Dear David,

You have a lamentable lack of imagination.

You wrote:

Perhaps your efforts to create secular democratic states might be better addressed to the 57 Islamic states around the world. Have you ever expressed your thoughts on the issue by writing to the thousands of Islamic web sites flourishing within each of these countries spewing out their Jew hatred daily?

Dear David,

I don't approve of Islamic states. By setting up a Jewish state where such creature as Ovadiah Yosef spout hatred we are imitating them. I don't expect them to listen to me, but I hope Jews might have better sense and work for a secular, democratic state. Israel unfortunately is becoming more like its enemies.

Dear David,

<<Based on the current polical view of the current Government in Israel - I do not believe the West Bank is regarded as a burden by the majority of Israelis.>>

Sadly true, unless you add the 20% Arab-Israelis, mostly politically inactive, to the 40% who do regard the West Bank as a burden.

Israel got drunk on power in 1967 and it is quite common for an alcoholic to believe that alcohol is not their problem.

It is nearly impossible to look down violently upon strangers (Arabs/Palestinians) without it spilling into other areas of life: go ask Israelis whether they see domestic violence, road-rage, bullying in schools, the level of crime, etc. as a burden - but many of them fail to see the link. Moreover, the new generations born with the occupation take it for granted, know not otherwise and have no other way-of-life to compare with.

If the world wants to help Israel, then it should not offer them more drinks. Unfortunately, Israel has the USA as ally, which are drunk themselves on power.

<<Israel will not be ceding its claims to all of the West Bank in any negotiations. This has been made abundantly clear in the two offers made by Israel in 2000/2001 and 2008 by Governments of different political persuasion to the current government.>>

Stupid Arabs! They could have accepted the offer and then, later, ask for more!

Anyway, I don't care for them, I care for the Israelis, and it's their loss rather than a reason to rejoice in blaming others.

<<Negotiations are a must to settle the allocation of sovereignty in the West Bank between Jews and Arabs. The incompetent Palestinian Authority has thrown away the opportunities afforded to it over the last 19 years.>>

Both sides are incompetent - that's why they could benefit from strong intervention by the world telling them: "You over here on this side and you over there on that side, no arguments!"

To david f

It is important to establish when the Palestinian national identity was forged since the responsibility if any for accommodating that identity should not solely be the responsibility for Israel alone to deal with as is the current view.

Jordan has been part of the problem since 1922 and it must be part of the solution in 2012.

The right to reclaim - not claim - the land was granted by the unanimous vote of the League of Nations. This decision has never been accepted by the Arabs or apparently yourself. It has been the single factor leading to the conflict remaining unresolved today.

Maybe in your opinion my imagination is lamentable. However it is realistic.

Bringing some two million Arabs under Israeli jurisdiction makes no sense. Bringing those two million Arabs under Jordanian jurisdiction is the kind of imagination I have espoused for a long time.

Somehow I feel the time is fast approaching when this viewpoint will prevail.

Failure to do this over the last 45 years has brought much suffering to both Jews and Arabs.

Dear David,

The Balfour Declaration and the unanimous vote of the League of Nations to create a Jewish state was made without consulting the wishes of the people who were living on the land. I don't regard a vote which disposes of land that people are living on without consulting the people living on that land as a legitimate vote. If that vote was legitimate then a vote to abolish the state of Israel would also be legitimate.

Dear David,

Like me you are a Jew living in a country with a Christian majority. How would you feel if that country decided to be a Christian state? I know I wouldn't feel good about it. Would it be acceptable to you?