“The tragedy of Palestine isn’t what the West or Israel has done — it’s what the Palestinians have done to themselves.”

WOW!!! This just provokes SEVERAL questions…

Did the Palestinians asked to be occupied by a foreign power (Israel)??? Is it absurd to think that such a long standing OCCUPATION would cause political factions within an area of the world that the US nor ISRAEL even recognize as a nation?

How can the US even refer to a Civil War in a nation they do not recognize as legitimate?

Essentially, the political factions within the occupied territories of Palestine (otherwise known as the remaining debris of an over 50 year old ethnic cleansing campaign) are divided by one central issue – do we try to gain control over this small chunk of land on the West Bank that currently Israel occupies? Or do we attempt to overthrow ALL of Palestine (including Israel)?

This political issue tipped towards the latter, more radical if you will, opinion as Hamas gained control in the elections late last year. But it is important to note that this has been a growing trend w/in Palestine for years and furthermore, remains the decisive issue for Muslims around the world.

Did the Palestinians themselves create the Balfour Declaration?

Did the Palestinians themselves superimpose a Nation on top of their own territory filled with rulers hell-bent on kicking them out?

And then, once this nation was in power (Israel) – did the Palestinians lobby Washington to continue giving enormous amounts military aid to a nation that is involved in the ethnic cleansing, or mass deportation if you will, of it’s very own people???

Your statement however follows the same logic of all occupying counties entrenched in imperialism: the people somehow brought it on themselves.

The American Indians similarly brought the colonialists over to England, the Arabs beckoned the Crusaders – the list goes on and on throughout history and it is not my intention to document every historical example. But simply to stamp out this idea that there’s NOTHING the US can do. We CAN do something, I suggest:

#1: Stop supporting ALL terrorist states, and stop endorsing and training terrorists. Stop hiding behind crooked military insurgencies to fight your battles, stop “outsourcing” the job of the US military to terrorists, etc., etc. (this is a bi-partisan referendum – Clinton himself is greatly responsible for the buildup of the Taliban).
#2: Force Israel to abide by international law, or cut off all military funding (but the lobbyists in Washington will never let our Congress do this).

When you step back and look at the issues worldwide, that on the Palestinian issue it is essentially the US and ISrael VS. the rest of the world – how you possibly still believe that “the tragedy of Palestine isn’t what the West or Israel has done — it’s what the Palestinians have done to themselves.” ????

Anyone???

Yeah, I mean, what can the poor guy do? It’s not like he’s the executive leader of the most powerful and influential nation on Earth, or something, right?

Well, we could always nuke Palestine into a glass parking lot, but the UN would frown upon such things.

There’s nothing that any US President can do to defuse the situation between Israel and Palestine — the Palestinians don’t want peace and there’s nothing we have that can convince them otherwise. The idea that there’s some magical roadmap to peace is an illusion — only the Palestinians can decide to make peace, and they have shown no inclination whatsoever to have any kind of lasting peaces. Even the “moderates” of Fatah have their own terrorist wing.

There is no solution to peace without the Palestinians changing their minds about the existence of Israel.

Every President has tried to come up with a solution and every one has failed — because short of occupying Palestine ourselves, there’s not a damned thing we can do until the Palestinians decide to accept the existence of Israel.

Yeah, I mean, what can the poor guy do? It’s not like he’s the executive leader of the most powerful and influential nation on Earth, or something, right?

Oh, wait. I have to say, Jay, you have remarkably low expectations for the office widely considered to be “leader of the free world.”