Joel Rosenberg reports in his blog:
| The Bush administration’s much-anticipated and highly-controversial Arab-Israeli peace conference opens tomorrow in Annapolis, Maryland. A great deal is at stake. The most contentious issue on the table: the future of Jerusalem. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is talking openly about the possibility of dividing the holy city and giving part of it to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. This would be a mistake of colossal proportions. It will not send a message of goodwill and peace to Israel’s enemies, as Olmert and his advisors hope. Rather, it will invite more attacks by radical Islamic jihadists who want all of Jerusalem, not just part of it. What’s more, even mere talk of dividing Jerusalem fuels the apocalyptic, genocidal ambitions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his colleagues who believe Israel’s day of judgment is coming and that Shia Muslims are destined to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization and gain control of Jerusalem for themselves.
Mr. President, don’t divide Jerusalem. Don’t consider it. Don’t talk about it. Don’t encourage others to talk about it. Doing so will bring war — and a horrifying one at that — not the peace that you seek. Rather, open tomorrow’s conference by making it crystal clear that precisely because we want peace in the Middle East, we will not support any division of Jerusalem any more than we would support dividing Washington or London or Paris or Moscow with our enemies or our neighbors. |
Then we have this news story from Agence Presse France via Yahoo: Israelis, Palestinians make progress in US talks
| Israel and the Palestinians said Monday they had made major progress in reviving frozen peace talks, as US President George W. Bush launched his biggest push yet to end the Middle East conflict. |
And WorldNetDaily reports:
| Syria agreed to attend this week’s U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit after Damscus received American and Israeli commitments the Golan Heights would be put on the table at the Israeli-Palestinian conference.
The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers, and was twice used by Syria to launch ground invasions into the Jewish state. |
WND prefaces its report with this observation: “U.S. invitation has no preconditions for state accused of supporting terror.”
In my view, it requires a willing suspension of disbelief to accept all this as good news.
Sadly I am not sure President Bush would be opposed to dividing Washington with either Muslims or Mexicans if it came down to it. Sadly I think the Israeli view or patriotism may be a bit purer than that of President Bush.
PS: I am not indicating that Muslins (in general) or Mexicans are our enemies such as with Israel and the Palestinians. But I do, at times questions President Bush’s definition of sovereignty.