Well, careful, but it looks a little as though Israel itself is saying 
nearly the same thing. "No future for Greater Israel". Of course he doesn't 
mean, yet, that Israel is dead. But the idea of Israel is fraying at the 
edges a little. No doubt it will still be there in five year. But probably 
not in a hundred years. So, somewhere between 5 and a 100 - bets now being 
accepted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Concept of "Greater Israel" dead, Olmert says
14.09.08 19:14

( dpa ) - The concept of an undivided, or greater [Israel], is dead, Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert told his ministers Sunday, as the cabinet prepared to 
debate a plan to pay compensation to settlers willing to evacuate their West 
Bank homes.

"'Greater Israel' is finished. There is no such thing as that any more. 
Whoever talks in those terms is only deluding himself," media reports quoted 
Olmert as saying.

He said that while he did not always hold this opinion and that "dig 
anywhere (in historic Palestine) and you'll find Jewish history," he 
realized that "we have to share this land with the people who dwell here, 
that is if we don't want to be a binational state."

The evacuation-compensation plan, submitted by Vice Premier Haim Ramon, 
proposes to pay 1.1 million shekels (around 305,000 dollars) to settlers who 
leaves their homes east of the security barrier Israel built on the West 
Bank.

Those who agreed to go to the Negev desert in southern Israel would receive 
a 25-per-cent increase, while those who moved to Galilee would get a 
15-per-cent increase.

Ramon, an outspoken advocate of the peace process with the Palestinians, 
said the bill would help "curb the dangerous idea" of a solution to the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on one state for two peoples.

Ramon's proposal met with a mixed reception in the cabinet, with one 
minister saying it should have been brought up much earlier, and others 
saying that to table it at the present time would tie Israel's hands in the 
talks with the Palestinians.

At the cabinet meeting, Olmert also slammed the rampage Saturday by West 
Bank settlers, who were responding to the stabbing of a 9- year-old boy.

"This phenomenon of taking the law into one's hands, of violent 
disturbances, of brutality by Jewish elements living in communities in (the 
West Bank), whether in recognized communities or in illegal outposts, is 
intolerable and will be dealt with sharply and harshly," he said.

"There will be no pogroms against non-Jewish residents in the state of 
Israel," he said.

Dozens of settlers rampaged Saturday through a Palestinian village in the 
northern West Bank, following the stabbing in the Yitzhar settlement near 
Nablus.

At least eight Palestinians were wounded as the settlers fired weapons in 
the streets, causing considerable damage to property, and stoned passers-by.

http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1294250&lang=EN

In message <gajtlk$ch3$03$1@news.t-online.com>, Bill Again 
 writes
>Well, careful, but it looks a little as though Israel itself is saying
>nearly the same thing. "No future for Greater Israel". Of course he doesn't
>mean, yet, that Israel is dead. But the idea of Israel is fraying at the
>edges a little. No doubt it will still be there in five year. But probably
>not in a hundred years. So, somewhere between 5 and a 100 - bets now being
>accepted.


25 max


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\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills  Staffs  England     /\/\/\/\/
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