Posted by joel, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 19, 2008 at 11:58 am

We now have the Palestinians running an Algeria-style campaign against Israel, but what I fear is that they will try to run a South Africa-type campaign against us,” he said.

If this happens, and worldwide sanctions are imposed as they were against the white-minority government, “the state of Israel is finished,” Mr. Olmert said in an earlier interview.

This is why he, and his mentor, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, turned so fiercely against the Jewish settlement movement, which has entangled Israel unnecessarily in the lives of West Bank Palestinians. Once, men like Mr. Sharon and Mr. Olmert saw the settlers as the vanguards of Zionism; today, the settlements are seen, properly, as the forerunner of a binational state.

In other words, as the end of Israel as a Jewish-majority democracy.

Other Israeli leaders have spoken with similar directness.

The former prime minister, and current defense minister, Ehud Barak, told The Jerusalem Post in 1999: “Every attempt to keep hold of this area as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state.

Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don’t vote it is an apartheid state that might then become another Belfast or Bosnia.”Web Link

Posted by Boaz, a resident of the Greater Miranda neighborhood, on May 19, 2008 at 11:58 am

[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.}

Please present some facts to support the following statements in your missive:

1) "role Israel played in persuading the neo-cons of the Bush administration to launch the disastrous war in Iraq"

2) "There is growing evidence that the Iraq war was launched in response to pressure from pro-Israel hawks and the powerful pro-Israeli lobbyists in Washington. "

3) "His critics castigated Olmert lest it be known that Israel vigorously supported the attack on Iraq and played a key role in its execution"

4)"Our unconditional support and close ties to Israel has thoroughly compromised our foreign policy and security. "

[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]

Posted by Paul, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 19, 2008 at 4:01 pm

[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.] Israelis mourned the death that resulted from 9/11... while Palestinians were found to be dancing in the street soon after.

Don't believe me? Check this out: Web Link

The real reason for our war in Iraq and our concern in the Middle East boils down to one necessity: OIL. Also, could you please provide the link to your so-called "quotes" ? I'm having a hard time locating them...