I agree Loch.It is so blatantly obvious that an integrated State of mutual repsect and tolerance is the ONLY HUMAN SOLUTION and the only one that a GOOD,FORGIVING AND ALL ACCEPTING GOD would tolerate.
Anything that involves death,destruction,annihilation,or(as Hilary Clinton suggested)"obliteration" of any human beings including men,women,children,elderly,sick etc by ANOTHER human force who lives by a myth that God has put them above ALL OTHER HUMAN CREATURES is,TO ME,a sin against God and an insult to the essence of God.
If Israel continue to favour the methods that the nazis favoured AGAINST Judaism,then they will be their OWN END! Because their actions will isolate them and make them incompatible with the ethics and morals of the rest of the planet.
Hamas has offered a six month ceasefire and I am NOT surprised that Israel have turned it down,I wouldn't have expected any more from them,because offensive action allows them to dominate the area and follow their myth.
Any peaceful compromise would allow the notion of a ONE INTEGRATED STATE to filter in,and that is NOT COMPATIBLE to Israelis who literally'cling' to the myth of Zion.
Rather than focus on the reality of now.
An integrated State is human,it's real,it's RATIONAL! LOL! This is too much to expect from a monochromatic mindset.
The problem with Israel,is that they pretend that they are invincible,impenetrable,blameless,TOTALLY INNOCENT OF SIN! Yet the rest of the world has tolerated their hypocrisy,already,for years.
The greatest sadness would be to witness Israel be it's OWN downfall and extinction because it refuses to accept that they are normal and fallible,NOT CHOSEN,and that people can survive without them but NOT THEM WITHOUT others!
The hardest iron-wall to bring down is NOT THE man-made paltry concrete one of apartheid in the occupied territories,but the very same wall which runs through the center of the myopic brain.The MIND-MADE one that orthodox,fundamental Judaism is precariously balanced on.The one that even my moderate Jewish friends say is an abomination to the teachings of the prophets and the word of all inclusive,all accepting God and feeds a continuance of selective sickness,death and destruction rather than across the board HEALTH,LIFE AND CONSTRUCTION!
Neither side is better than the other,both bleed the same and feel pain the same way,and both sides are merely tenants of Gods land which they destroy every day,more and more,instead of repairing and feeding it for all their childrens future.
So Loch,I believe also that both sides should swallow their pride,admit that they are EQUALLY fallible and humble themselves in faith,morality and ethics and live together,in the Intergrated National State of Palesrael or some other concocted name! 'Neglect' and 'offend' are not words in Gods 'CHOSEN'dictionary where all men are equal.
Peace Salaam,Shalom.

How to you know "for absolute" that Israel will not be destroyed? Perhaps you have read some prophetic material. I can't argue with that. However, I do know that the first rule of prophecy is this:

Prophecy is always fulfilled exactly as it is written, and never as anyone expects it to be.

I certainly don't know "for absolute" that Israel will be destroyed. It is possible that Israel will remain. But I think the very nature of the country, founded on a narrow, racist idea of the ascendancy of one group of people over all others, is a bad foundation for survival.

Israel, if it is to remain a homeland for the Jews, must also allow itself to be a homeland for the Palestinians. To exclude them has been to set up an all or nothing dynamic, which, if it is to play itself out, will lead to the annihilation of one race or the other.

If Israel intends to continue down that road, state policy will reflect the reality... does Israel contemplate the destruction of every Palestinian
man, woman and child? Can anyone blame the Palestinians for fighting back? If Israel's policy is extermination, then why is it wrong for Hamas' policy to be extermination?

I play the devil's advocate. Of course, it is evil and wrong to propose the extermination of any people, or even of any person!

I say again, the only valid solution is an Integrated State. No Extermination! Not of anyone! Let all the children, old people, mothers and fathers, live together in one nation, in peace! Is it really that hard to grasp this?

Loch:

I agree that there should be a true peacemaker who listens to both sides. I do not agree, whatsoever, that Israel will be destroyed. That will never happen. I am not saying this because of some ego trip or self righteous behavior, but...

Believe Me.....I know for absolute that Israel will not be destroyed...they are well protected..and this has nothing to do with the U.S. in and of itself.

I also know that no child should die on either side of the fence, Palestinian or Israel. This will all be stopped in the near future. Many will try to stop it, and some will give very false hope, although the hope sounds too good. But, Israel will still be standing...and there will be peace for those involved, we just have to hang on.

A.S.Loch perhaps,

Isreal recognize Hamas whose doctrine is to Annihilate Isreal? What for?

i think jimmy carter speaking to hamas comes to show how big of person he is. you can't expect to have peace in the region by only speaking to olmert and abbas. you have to speak to all three parties.

Thank you President Carter for thinking and acting as a true chritian.

Carter is a realist. Of course, there can be no "real" or "substantive" peace without Hamas' involvement. A Fifth-grader can see this. No-one doubts that Hamas is the legitimate government of the Palestinians. No one doubts that Fatah is a puppet regime a-la the Maliki govt in Iraq, and can never stand by itself without US/Israeli support.

But Israel's refusal to recognize Hamas illustrates the Zionists' core weakness. It is yet another impossible situation for the Zionists State. If Israel recognnizes h
Hamas, that act would be tantamount to recognition of the Palestinian struggle and the grievances of the Palestinian people. Such recognition would put Israel in a position of not being able to continue its policy of "talk and build", which is its core policy in regards to the Palestinians. A recognition of Hamas would be the death-knell for the Kadima party, and could very possibly spark a coup or a civil within Israel.

It is at best a small exaggeration to say that Israel could hardly survive a recognition of Hamas.

It is perhaps a great understatement that Israel cannot survive its policy of ignoring Hamas.

The Hamas fighters are well armed, have excellent morale, and are displaying the ability to adapt tactics and strategies to fight an offensive war against the IDF.
The Hamas fighters have nothing to lose, while the IDF fighters have everything to lose. Rarely does the force with nothing to lose fail in their military objective.

On the military front, Israel again faces a choice between two impossibles. If the IDF fights a low-level guerilla war, they will lose it, because the IDF will thuhs cede the initiative to Hamas. Expect an Iraqi style campaign of IED's and ambushes that will grow in skill, deadliness, and intensity until Tel Aviv suffers morter and rocket attacks, and no-one will be safe on the roadways.

If Israel attacks Gaza, expect a bloodbath of incredible ferocity, an escalation to at least a three-front war, and perhaps even the beginning of World-War Three. The outcome of such a war, even if confined to a brutal three-front war, will be an Israel, victorious, but ruined, bankrupt and tottering, vulnerable to a wave of attack she can then not fend off.

Israel has no good options. She faces, at the very least, even if some sort of "peace" is reached that maintains the status quo, a demographic engulfment, a global economic depression that will sap her ability to fight her enemies, and increasing divisions at home, as the Iranian commentator said, of class, racial and religious divisions that keep her from the unity she needs to survive the burgeoning global food and money crisis.

Worst of all, the Palestinians know all this. They see, for the first time, that they can actually win in their struggle. Worse even than this, the Israelis see all this, and such knowledge saps their ability to fight in direct proportion to the increase in the morale of Hamas. Think of the German soldiers sent to the Russian front- they knew only despair, and at best found solace in a sense of fatalism- hardly the frame of mind needed for a successful campaign! Think of an American soldier in Vietnam- he knows the war is unjust, and he only wants to survive it, not win it. Think of the defenders of Savannah in 1864, or the Confederates in the trenches of Petersburg...the cause has been lost, the South has been carved up like a Christmas ham, and yet they fight on.. but without the knowledge of sure victory... they continue to fight...it is what one does when one knows not what else to do.

If there is a realist in Israel, one who can divorce himself from the pipe-dream of Eretz-Israel, the Solomonic Empire, that person knows that the only hope for Israel is a One-State Solution, vis-a-vis ANC South Africa. Otherwise, the destruction of Israel is inevitable.

It's quite ironical really!
Jimmy Carter gets "shunned" by the terrorist leadership of ISRAEL, by meeting with another GROUP of 'TERRORISTS'!! When both sides are merely fighting for survival and respect on territory which belongs to both EQUALLY,without prejudice or racism.
I still admire Carter GREATLY for attempting to maintain some sanity and save more lives,by meetings with BOTH SIDES,NEITHER OF WHOM are perfect,but then neither is the USA! LOL!
The Israelis have terrorized and collectively punished the Palestinian people in the same cruel,inhuman way that the Jewish people were singled out by that OTHER SCUM,the Nazi party. The Nazis thought they were a 'chosen' people too! How sad is that,that the legacy continues.
AT LEAST CARTER HAS THE COURAGE AND THE multi-lateral mind-set to engage ALL involved in hopefully healthy dialogue,instead of being INTIMIDATED by his fellow politicians,who are beholden to AIPAC,OR our own 'terrorist' White House Admin,under George BIN Bush!
What Israel is doing to the Palestinians is DESPICABLE.
What America is doing to the Iraqis is despicable.
What Al Qaeda is doing to Islam is DESPICABLE.
What Zionism is doing to Judaism is despicable.
What Bush is doing to Christianity AND DEMOCRACY is despicable.
So don't tell me that Carter deserves to be "shunned",when it SHOULD BE the Israeli Government and any other fanatically blind faction,that should be shunned for their ONGOING,and methodical genocide of their neighbours.
Carter is too much of a civil gentleman to air his feelings about these insults.
LOL! If it was me,and I was "shunned" by the present Israeli leaders,I would have to say,"Why thankyou,I'm honoured and relieved"!
We have learnt not to expect TOO MUCH humanity from Israel,so,to expect rational common-sense would be MIRACULOUS!
Hamas also needs to show some flexibility and maturity TOO.People like Carter are rare diplomatic treasures!

At least no person of common-sense,conscience and humanity can EVER say CARTER NEVER TRIED the peaceful RESPECTFUL WAY FIRST! Unlike MANY OF OUR 'ESTEEMED' SO-CALLED 'DIPLOMATS' who dare not even contemplate it for fear of upsetting particular factions of their LOBBYISTS and fund-raisers.
Carter knows MORE ABOUT THE MIDDLE-EAST,and it's racist/sectarian conflicts than you can fit on others(including that idiot John McCAIN) TOE-NAIS!!!!

This "hostile entity" otherwise known as GAZA,and all the men,women and children struggling to survive(wash,eat and sleep)there,held an election and Hamas WAS DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED! and whether Israel OR the USA agree with that,the world spins on more than the AXIS of Amer-ael.LOL!
The fact that ANYONE can condemn a man for promoting PEACE instead of WAR,BLOODSHED AND DEATH would make me VERY SUSPICIOUS OF the ACCUSERS ultimate MOTIVES!
Rock on Jimmy!
Peace,Salaam,Shalom!

Shunned by Israeli political leaders, former US president Jimmy Carter met with a Hamas representative in the West Bank and says he will go ahead with plans to meet with the leader of Hamas and the Syrian President in Damascus to promote peace in the Middle East.
http://www.linktv.org/video/2487