Friday May 3, 2013

I've Been Thinking:

Tzipi Livni and Shlomo Molocho are in Washington, DC. They are, respectively, Israel's minister in charge of the peace process and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief special negotiator.

Livni and Molcho are in DC to follow up on meetings held last week between Arab League representatives and Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden. For the first time ever leaders of the Arab League suggested that they would support land swaps with Israel. That is revolutionary.

I do not think that Bibi is too very happy about the suggestion, but none the less, he must move on it.

Hamas is not too happy either. The official response given by Ismail Haniyeh, the PM in Gaza, was: "Palestine is not land for sale, exchange or purchase." Khaled Mashaal, the international head of Hamas, rejected the idea outright.

Who is pleased? The United States. And many Israelis are excited, even if there is only a minute possibility that a land swap might actually happen. Even the suggestion of a land swap by the Arab League is a sign of flexibility on issues of land and borders - flexibility that has never before been shown towards Israel by leaders of the Arab world.

Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah

To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com