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2004 US Presidential Election
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October 01, 2004
Debates | Candidates Omit Israel-Palestinian from Debate

REUTERS: Candidates Omit Israel-Palestinian from Debate

Jon Alterman, who heads the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the cursory reference reflects the fact that Israel is not a source of contention between the candidates.

…

Anatol Lieven of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Thursday’s debate “demonstrated the extreme difficulty in the United States of having a serious national debate on subject of strategy toward the Middle East.”

Both Bush and Kerry stressed the importance of bringing peace to the wider region. Bush reiterated his vision of spreading democracy and Kerry talked of reaching out to the Muslim world.

“How can you do that if you ignore the role of Israel in making it so much more difficult to appeal to Muslim moderates,” Lieven said.

“The question is whether after the election, Kerry or Bush may adopt a different strategy. … If you refuse to discuss American terms of support for Israel, a huge part of the debate becomes empty or nonexistent,” he said.



Posted by Laurence Simon at October 1, 2004 07:49 AM | TrackBack
Comments

An appropriate and costructivve debte topic is:

Will construction of the “dead sea canal” promote

middle east peace ,”Iraq peace” and world peace

in general?

search “dead sea canal” on google

Posted by: bluedragon [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 2, 2004 04:49 AM

I have one or two points to make about ME moderates.
What should Middle East moderates be doing?

Money quote:

It is no longer enough for the “moderates” to speak up. You will have to stop these bastards or die with them.

—==—

I think Bush gets it. I think Kerry is playing kindergarden games. Patty cake.

Posted by: M. Simon [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 2, 2004 11:03 AM

I looked up the Dead Sea Canal project.

I appears to be a plan originally suggested in 1855 revived to provide fresh water through a reverse osmosis system to the Palestinians, Jordan and Israel.

In addition the plan will also supply some of the water defict to the Dead Sea and provide a transport system from the Mediterranian to the Red Sea in competition with the Suez canal.

You can read more about it here at an official Israeli site. It looks like a good deal for all involved.

Posted by: M. Simon [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 2, 2004 11:24 AM

Dead Sea Canal

Construction of a proposed canal between the

Meditarranean and the Dead seas could promote

Middle East Peace Iraq peace and world peace

in general.

The “Dead Sea Canal” world take advantage

of a 1200 foot differential between the two seas.

The $5 billion project would be 5 years in the

building and could provide employment for

Palestinians , Israelis and Jordanians. It would

provide power, water, desalination capabilities

aquatic farming and recreational lakes in an arid

desert like envirnment.

The canal could create the groundwork

of cooperation and trust building between warring

parties.

search “dead sea canal” on google click on images

for maps,click on site links for research

Should not such a project be a Presidential Debate

Topic?

Who can we get to do a documenmtary on the

dead sea canal?

Perhaps we could interest George Butler who

directed John Keery’s story.

Posted by: bluedragon [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 2, 2004 02:59 PM

TYPO John Kerry not Keery

On the question who can we get to film the

Dead Sea Canal documentary?

We can get George Butler who directed/produced

Going Up River the documentary about John Kerry”s

Vietnam War experience.

The common denominator between both

documentaries is that both deal in making peace

with the enemy.

The case of the Dead Sea Canal is much broader

for it seeks to establish peace with the whole

Moslem World.

Posted by: bluedragon [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 4, 2004 04:54 AM

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