One needs to ask why the 600,000 illegal settlers in the West Bank, who are there against rules of the Geneva Convention, are a problem that the Palestinians need to solve.

The Israeli government, against the rulings of the UN and international law, has allowed them entry, supported them and defended them.

It is heartening to note for the first time every the US State Department has begun listing West Bank settler violence as 'Terrorist Incidents'.

Israel needs to solve this issue rather than continue to add to it by announcing new illegal settlements.

As to the quote purportedly from Abbas saying “I'm willing to agree to a third party that would supervise the agreement, such as NATO forces, but I would not agree to having Jews among the NATO forces, or that there will live among us even a single Israeli on Palestinian land”. It is difficult to find any mention of it, either in Israeli media outside opinion pieces or international media.

It appears it originated in a Palestinian newspaper and was corrected within days by the same organisation. He apparently said “I will not agree that an Israeli, even if he is a Muslim, will be present on my land, but I’ll agree only (to the presence) of a third party.”

Where it got hyped over a month later was in an opinion piece by Jonathan Halevi, who is a senior researcher and fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, published here; http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3929819,00.html

The Center could be viewed as their version of our Institute of Public Affairs and according to Wikipedia “advocates the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and its lasting control of the West Bank and Golan Heights” and “opposes a unilateral Palestinian drive toward statehood”.

Perhaps though getting these things right are not what Mr Halevi nor Mr Singer are about.

So the Pope's pulling a rug from under the racists and they're getting desperate! Maybe they're sensing a tectonic shift as the world loses patience with their ambitions, their racism, their arrogance, their fluid borders, their incessant grabgrabgrabbing of Palestinian land for new race-based settlements. A secular, democratic, non-racist state (indeed almost any state)is a better future than an Islamic one, but if their intransigence leads to an Islamic future with Sharia Law then at least one can say it couldn't happen to a nicer mob.

Mr Singer, you must read Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish People.". A historian who cuts the cackle. The Zionist narrative promotes "ethnocentricity" (racism being such an ugly word for the same thing) and the key to that is to elide the proselytisation of the Kazars from history. Professor Sand demonstrates that that just won't wash. Read it, Mr Singer, you'll love it. $10 as a Kindle edition from Amazon - Kindle for PC is a free download.

Btw, the nomination of Chuck Hagel as US Defence Secretary is another straw in the wind. The US blank cheque is looking as if it could begin to grow strings!

"It appears it originated in a Palestinian newspaper and was corrected within days by the same organisation." Just a slight misprint perhaps?

A revision of the Fatah Facebook page that illustrates a map of the 'new' Palistinian state wherein Israel has somehow ceased to exist is a slight misprint as well; know, the page glorifying Saddam Hussein, the bloke that gassed his own population.

I am sure that the Pope is fully aware of the desire of Abbas to negotiate in good faith and respect with Israel in finding a just solution for both people.

I am equally sure that the Pope, in ignoring previous agreements between the Vatical and Israel, is also some sort of easily explained misprint or mixup!

{{So what was Moussa hoping to achieve by his petulance in Petra? Clearly he is very frustrated as he sees the Roadmap disappearing down the diplomatic drain as the Arabs continue their intransigent demands that Israel return to the June 4, 1967 borders and that 450,000 Jews pack up and vacate their homes.}}

- David Singer, 1 July 2008

{{The Pope was apparently unaware that the only matter left to be negotiated between the parties as a result of "this initiative " was the timing of the eviction of 600000 Jews currently living in this " State of Palestine" as defined by the General Assembly.}}

- David Singer, 8 January 2013

So where there's a will there's a way. At this civil rate of migration of 150000J/4.5y, once Israel changes its direction it should now take 18 years for the problem to be peacefully solved by 2031. Had the direction changed at the time of Singer's first quote (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7555&page=2), that time would be halved and the process completed by 2022.

One of my friends lives in the Eastern occupied part of Jerusalem. Those who oppose Israel may therefore condemn him as a "Jewish settler", one [plus family] of those bloody 600000 - but do those who support Israel believe that Singer is protecting the poor guy?

No! My friend hates the place, hates being there, always considered it Arab/foreign land, always voted against it, but when the government offered him a brand new 4-bedroom apartment across the border for the price of his old 2-bedroom apartment in Western Jerusalem that had rusty leaking water-pipes, given his poverty and growing family he reluctantly succumbed and accepted. Surviving on a very modest government salary, he is still waiting for the compensation package that will allow him to escape back home to Israel. Will the world help him to have his day?

#To csteele

1. The 600000 Jews are living there because they have the right to do so under the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter.

2. The article you refer to by Jonathan Halevi was published on 4 August 2010 just one week after Abbas's remarks were published - not as you allege "over a month later"

That article had appended to it the following note:

"Note: Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency published on July 28 its version of Abbas’ briefing to the Egyptian media, quoting him as saying: “I'm willing to agree to a third party that would supervise the agreement, such as NATO forces, but I would not agree to having Jews among the NATO forces, or that there will live among us even a single Israeli on Palestinian land”. This version was reprinted by Palestinian newspapers al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida on July 30 and by other Arab newspapers.

A few days later Wafa published a new version of Abbas’ interview to the Egyptian media, where he was quoted as saying: “We have no objection to the presence of a third party after the (Palestinian) state is established, and we don’t oppose that the third party will be NATO or any other force. However, I will not agree that an Israeli, even if he is a Muslim, will be present on my land, but I’ll agree only (to the presence) of a third party. The reason for that is stemmed in the fact that the Israeli is the heir of the occupation, while the presence of the third party is temporary as are the Multinational Forces in your country (Egypt) and UNIFIL in Lebanon.”

Whichever version you adopt - Israelis - Arabs and Jews - will not be tolerated in the "State of Palestine".

Abbas heads an organization whose Charter proclaims its hatred of Jews

Abbas is desperately seeking to reconcile with Hamas who also have nasty views about Jews.

Doesn't sound like anyone in the PLO or Hamas likes Jews,

Whenever are you going to get things right?

Abbas was outlining his conditions for who could be present in a “negotiated” Palestine which was some sort of Bantustan archipelago separated from Israel. Neither translation Mr Singer quotes makes sense (any more than does a two state "solution"). There is no good reason why Jews or anyone else should be excluded from the separate "state" PROVIDED their sole allegiance was to that state and not the state of Israel. This is probably what Abbas was saying - in other words a separate Palestine would not be host to any illegal settlements for foreigners.

Hamas' position, a more just one, is that a separate state could be no more than interim pending a Palestine for all people with a birthright there.

Here's the numbers within Israel's current borders (borders as of this week, before the next and the next and the next grab) excluding Gaza and what's left of the West Bank.

1. Those with a birthright to live there:

1a. Already there:
*Israel-born Jews 4 million
*Palestinians 2 million

1b. In waiting:
*Exiles 5 million

2. Those with NO birthright there:
*Settlers born elsewhere, transmigrated on racist grounds: 2 million.

Mr Singer has claimed that
§ Hamas has "nasty views about Jews"
§ Fatah's Charter "proclaims its hatred of Jews"

I would be astonished if he could support that with chapter and verse. Zionists are apt to lie – their entire programme is founded on a lie. Read Professor Sand’s book. Rebutting the lie is described by liars as “nasty views about Jews”, or “hatred of Jews”. Sand’s rebuttal of the lie is of course “self-hatred” as the professor is an Israeli Jew

David, you are now flat out lying. The jews in the west bank have zero right to be there, they are illegal immigrants and the colonial enterprise is illegal.

Fair dinkum, why are you allowed to constantly spew out this rot.

Might I refer Mr Singer,apologist for Israel and speaking for confiscation of Palestinian lands of 'the West Bank',to an article from the Guardian 04/01/2013 by Harriet Sherwood entitled "Likud annex plan in battle for votes"

Yuli Edelstein, a government minister,speaking at a conference in Jerusalem claimed that "the lack of Israeli sovereignty over Area C-the 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli military control in which all settlements are situated-'strengthens the international community's demand for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines'".
The response to this by the chairman of Government coalition ZE'ev Elkin said Israel will adopt a 'salami'approach to annexation claiming that "we will try to apply sovereignty over as much as we can at any given moment"

"The extreme right-wing Moshe Feiglin proposed Israel should pay Palestinian families to leave the West Bank,using funds marked for security measures." He goes on to state "We can give every family in Judea and Samaria $500,000 to encourage to migrate...This is the perfect solution for us"

Tsipi Livni stated that the current Israeli Government was "extreme right wing, and will lead to the destruction of Zionism and the establishment of a binational state" She went on to say that the right wing "will make Israel a boycotted,isolated and ostracised state."

'Many observers believe a string of recent announcements by Mr Netanyahu about expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is an attempt to contain the loss of votes to the Jewish Home party-an even further right-wing party'.

Now, Mr Singer, what do you think of this now well documented situation of the selfish political rather than honest, fair and reasonable approach to the Palestinian people who have as much right to 'new Israel' as the current occupiers. Did the US, Britain and Russia remain indefinately in their conquered lands of Germany and Europe generally? Then why is Israel so entitled to still occupy the West Bank and hold dominance over the seas belonging to Gaza? Did the Balfour Declaration and Picot-Sykes Accord intend this?

There once was a fanatic called the Singer,

Who as an Israeli apologist is a humdinger.

He's admonished the Pope,

All but called him a dope,

Is Singer, the humdinger, Satan's harbinger?

"Tsipi Livni stated that the current Israeli Government was 'extreme right wing, and will lead to the destruction of Zionism and the establishment of a binational state'. She went on to say that the right wing 'will make Israel a boycotted, isolated and ostracised state'."

Has to happen sooner or later. What an excellent riddance. Exiles back to their homeland, foreign-born settlers back to theirs.

To #Emperor Julian

Evidence of Fatah's "hatred of Jews" - article 20 of the PLO Charter:

"Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong."

Evidence of Hamas's "nasty view about Jews" - article 15 of the Hamas Covenant:

"The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters."

Do you need more chapter and verse or is that enough to astound you?

Are you also ready to apply your perverted logic to getting rid of those with no birthright who have transmigrated to Australia?

Take your hatred and racist views elsewhere.

To #Marilyn Shepherd

Talking to you is an utter waste of time. Read article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and Article 80 of the UN Charter.

To #gazzaboy

Thank you for at least asking some reasonable questions.

Israel offered to cede its claims to more than 90% of the West Bank in 2000/1 and 2008. Both offers were rejected by the Palestinian Authority. That was the PA's perfect entitlement - but where has it got them?

The Balfour Declaration did not preclude the possible reconstitution of the Jewish National Home in the West Bank and Gaza and neither did the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

To #David G

Still couldn't resist the temptation to post once again.

Heed the words the Pope utters every day:

"And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."

Thought so.

As expected, Mr Singer's "chapter and verse" contradicts his claim about "hatred of Jews" and "nasty view about Jews". Indeed it is the standard, deceitful "antisemitism" lie so often peddled by arrogant Zionists.

None of the Fatah statement expresses a hatred of Jews. The statement simply rejects false claims made about Jews having historic ties with Palestine and rejects false claims about Jews being a nation - the falsity of which has been demonstrated at length e.g. by Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish people". Gwan - READ it!

The Hamas statement rightly calls for resistance to the usurpation of Palestine. However it can be faulted in its reference to "the Jews" as it was organised individuals Hamas was referring to, not "the Jews" as if "the Jews" were a people, responsible as a whole for the usurpation of Palestine. The statement wrongly concedes the racist claim of the Zionists. As a response to the foreign usurpation of Palestine it was however totally justified - reminiscent of the spirit of the resistance to Nazi usurpation of occupied Europe.

Yes, Australia WAS usurped. Those who originally did so are long dead. But being born somewhere is a birthright to the country of birth, and a conferred right is accorded by acceptance as immigrants by those born there. Empire preference in migration was racist in roughly the same way as Jewish preference in migration to Palestine. Four million Jews born in Palestine have as strong a birthright as anyone else born there. Two million foreign interlopers don’t.