"that of Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation. "
They are not resisting occupation, but rather Israel's right to resist. Unless you are willing to admit that you believe Israel occupies Haifa, Tel Aviva, Jaffa, Eilat, etc. If not then please admit to the fact that remembering the Nakba has turned into an event where Palestinians would like to see Israel gone as a state in its entirety.

also its interesting that you say that Thomas Friedman was wrong when he was in fact there.... hard to dispute someone when they were actually there.

I wonder why Assad let his citizens go crazy at the border? It deflected criticism from him!
If any other citizens of any other hostile country tried invading their land in mass they would be met with gunfire as well.

Or Israel can say its an I told you so, and have Obama understand why security is such a big factor in Israeli politics, when the whole region around you is "mourning" the fact that your state exists, it can be a little unnerving to say the least.

Why are there no warrrants issued for Crimes Agaisnt Humanity for Israel slaughtering unarmed protesters?

America needs to quit providing attack helicopters and white phosperous to slaugher and ethnically cleanse Palestinian land.

If Ron Paul were president our entanglement in the conflict would end immediately.

The Israelis want America to kill Muslims down to the last American soldier.

Day of Rage in D.C.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/462/358/Americans_Redress_of_Grievances_or_Day_of_Rage_in_Washington_D.C._on_June_30,_2011.html

Fix America!

Google: "Day of Rage in D.C."

Blake, I'm surprised that you think this was anything other than a planned sacrifice by Bashar Assad. This was taken from today's NY Times regarding the Golan border and the Palestinians living in Syria:

"The frontier along the Golan Heights, a strategic rocky plateau, is the most sensitive in Syria, and checkpoints proliferate. Even for Syrians, permission is required to enter some parts of it. In an authoritarian state, the government also keeps relentless surveillance over the 10 official Palestinian camps and three unofficial ones.

Mr. Ziadeh, citing informants in Damascus, said at least four buses were seen Saturday leaving two camps where factions most loyal to Syria exert control."

The implications here are clear. Putting it bluntly, one does not walk to the Golan Heights from Syria. No way, no how-- not a foreigner, not a Syrian citizen, and certainly not a group of Palestinians-- without express permission by the state.

Same thing goes for Hizballah's stronghold in southern Lebanon, where even UNIFIL troops on patrol for smuggled weapons, moves at the leisure of Hizballah. This, in a land where Palestinians are considered persona non-gratta, and are forbidden from either owning assets, or participating in over 70 types of work.

That you consider this 'people power', shows either a rose tinted view of the world that just doesn't exist in the visible spectrum, or you're rubbing your hand in glee that Iran's and its clients will push for more regional instibility to keep the heat off their own backsides.

First the lebanese protestors who died were killed by Lebanese fire and not Israeli fire.

You say expulsion from their homes and a lot of historians will tell you that they ran away at least the majority of them, what about the expulsion of jews from arab countries.

What the heck does the arab spring have to do with israel, Tunisia, Libya, syria, come on this is a pathetic argument, the jews were misplaced after the holocaust and resettled their refugees in Israel, the arabs who were misplaced after the war of attempting to destroy Israel are oppressed by racist laws in Syria Lebanon, the are suffering in Iraq. The arab world has used the palestinins and their refugee status after the war to keep inciting against Israel. How can you explian the laws against palestinians in Lebanon and syria? even in jordan they are the majority and they only get 11 out of 105 seats .

What is this thing about the palestinians that makes them so special compare to other refugees, there were tens of millions of ferugees after world war two and all of them don't get the special treatment that palestinians get. Why do they need UNWRA because the arab countries refuse to give them citizenship. The arab citizens of old mandate palestine were from the same ethnic people that live in syria and jordan and Iraq and Egypt, the have the same family names and families who live there, but because the lived in the mandate they are supposed to have a special right of return and un agency.
Never heard of such a case in the world.

The egyptians are mad because their life is shit and their country cannot provide for them, so because of the gas deal they hate Israel, what a pathetic argument, that is why thier life is the way it is because of Israel, would anything change if Israel would disappear tomorrow, their would prosper all of a sudden? Egypt needed the money from the gas for their citizens and Jordan gets the gas for cheaper so don't sell us that reason, the gas deal stuff only cameout after Mubarak is gone just as a reason to vilify him.

The arab worlds problems are rooted in its culture and ruling regimes buy hey blame israel for all of their problems again its a good way to take peoples minds off the real isssues.

Many had mistakenly interpreted the Arab Spring to mean Arabs have abandoned the Palestinian cause. The Palestinian cause will remian the region's biggest issue and grievance until solved.

Some questions I'd like to see you answer if you get a chance:

- Assuming Netanyahu were to go against form and propose a peace plan, what would it look like?

- Also, what are the minimum requirements for a peace plan to be "viable"?

- Could he propose such a plan given his political coalition?

- Could he find backing from Kadima if he proposed a serious plan and alienated his right wing?

- And finally, could he survive as head of the Likud party if he proposed a "viable" peace plan?

help Palestinians getting an international recognition of the Palestinian state. If Obama wants to "really" open a new page with the Muslim world, then the Palestinians should be allowed to live just like Israelis. They must be supported to have their basic rights of movement, trade, etc. I can't even send my family my thesis by mail because I know it will never be delivered to them because of Israeli restrictions.

The US must take an objective role or step aside and let the EU do the job!

These Palestinians should also tell, how should Israelis commemorate the exodus of Jews from their promised land exclusively due to unjustified attacks on them by Muslims and Christians. What if they remember those days, and their barrels start speaking.

The Arabs must explain as to how they arrived in Israel. If their occupation of Israel after driving Jews out is justified, then why not the other way round. You cannot blow hot and cold in the same breath.

Its realy terrible

"Before their [the Palestinians] very eyes we are possessing the land and the villages where they, and their ancestors, have lived...We are the generation of colonizers, and without the steel helmet and the gun barrel we cannot plant a tree and build a home."
--Israeli leader Moshe Dayan, quoted in Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, "Original Sins: Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel"

The proesters penetrated an area held by the State of Israel, but they did not cross the Israeli border.

The incident raises the question of whether Israel has a border with Syria on the Golan Heights. The answer seems obvious, but in fact it is not. An international border is one reached by agreement between the two political entities on either side.

Israel is an atypical state in that it does not have agreed international borders with all of its neighbors. That is especially true in the case of Lebanon and Syria. Israel and Lebanon are currently separated by the so-called Line of Withdrawal of Israeli Forces from Lebanon, agreed in 2000 between Israel and the United Nations and also known as the Blue Line. It corresponds in part with the international border demarcated by the English and French governments in 1923. In practice, there is currently no border between Israel and Lebanon.

In 1974, after the Yom Kippur War, the United Nations brokered the Separation of Forces Agreement between Israel in Syria. It specified the creation of two lines delineating the areas of military control of each side. Several years after the demarcation of this line, known as the Purple Line, the Israeli cabinet approved a resolution unilaterally annexing the area held by the Israel Defense Forces to Israel and making the line on the Golan Heights Israel's border.

It was this line that Syrian citizens crossed this week. By any international criterion, this is not the border between Israel and Syria. There is still a need for an official agreement between the two countries to create an international border, just as the borders between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan were created as part of the peace agreements between the countries.

What the heck does the arab spring have to do with israel, Tunisia, Libya, syria, come on this is a pathetic argument, the jews were misplaced after the holocaust and resettled their refugees in Israel, the arabs who were misplaced after the war stavkove kancelarie of attempting to destroy Israel are oppressed by racist laws in Syria Lebanon, the are suffering in Iraq. The arab world has used the palestinins and their refugee status after the war to keep inciting against Israel. How can you explian the laws against palestinians in Lebanon and syria? even in jordan they are the majority and they only get 11 out of 105 seats .What is this thing about the palestinians that makes them so special compare to other refugees, there were tens of millions of ferugees after world war two and all of them don't get the special treatment that palestinians get. Why do they need UNWRA because the arab countries refuse to give them citizenship.