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By Yoram Getzler With the intense focus on a nuclearized Middle-East propelled by developments and threats by Iran aimed at Israel, it seems to me that at this point it would be in Israel’s interest to consider foregoing its development, possession and the accompanying defense of nuclear weapons, and close its nuclear weapon facilities. To add too the timing is the recently publicized revelation that our Dimona nuclear facility is, at age forty, in desperate need of an expensive rebuilding project to insure its safety….

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By Yoram Getzler

The following is written in a response to an acquaintance who writes on the need for America/Obama to pressure Israel in the pursuit of a Middle-East peace.

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By Yoram Getzler

Let us assume that we are truly trying to understand the foundations of this conflict between the Jewish people and the Palestinian/Arab/Muslim world which Prof. Shenhav challenges us to do, (One space for two people, Haaretz, Magazine, Feb 19 ’10 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150822.html ). The professor calls for a re-imagining of the past in order to understand when and at which moment in history we, the Jewish people, could have acted differently, made decisions unlike the ones we made, which, according to him, would have been more just, and have led to less suffering for the Palestinian people. OK, I accept the challenge. I suggest we expand the possibilities beyond the usual, which is to place the blame on the Jewish people in general and the Zionist enterprise in particular. Continue Reading »

Rahm Emanuel has been the target recently of demands that President Obama replace him in the position of Chief of Staff. The cause was Emanuel’s use of the word “retard” in a derogatory manner.
I was surprised that Mr. Emanuel along with other Obama enthusiastic supporters / advisers have not been called upon to accept some of responsibility for the tragically mistaken advice they provided the president, regarding the presidents ill fated theatrically released, poorly planned Middle-East / Israel/Arab policy.
Of course, the president and his advisers have plenty of other issues to focus on.

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The tail being the settler movement in Judea & Samaria, as well as their supporters within the green line; the dog being the state itself. As a result of the Obama policy demands regarding the Israeli communities in Judea & Samaria and his mistaken belief of their centrality to the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians the community living in Judea & Samaria and their sympathizers in Israel itself are in open confrontation with the state, as to who represents the true leadership of the state.

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The “Right of Return” is an elementary demand of the Palestinians for the past sixty plus years, since the creation of the State of Israel. The refugee situation is in consequence of the refusal of the Palestinian/Arab world to accept the creation of the Jewish state and share a tiny corridor of the vast lands in “their” Middle-East.

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