This is the new mod-sanctioned Israel/Palestine thread designed for discussion of:
A) The Middle East Peace Process
B) Israeli politics, particularly regarding their impact on the Middle East Peace Process.
C) Palestinian politics, particularly regarding their impact on the Middle East Peace Process.
D) Discussion relating to other countries where their politics might impact on the Middle East Peace Process.
The Moderation team have been concerned at the extent to which recent threads on this subject have tended to turn into one great big troll/flamebait fest faster than you say either "shalom" or "salam". It's our hope that by starting a mod-sanctioned thread we can slow this tendency down (even if we can't entirely stop it), and encourage a more civil debate between different political perspectives.
We will treat this thread with similar stringent conditions to those we use for US Presidential election threads:
In addition to the usual rules regarding no flaming, no baiting, and no trolling, we we also rigidly enforce no mocking nicknames, and no gloating.
There are three other rulings specific to this thread:
1) Referring to Palestinians, other Arabs, Jews, Africans (particularly, but not exclusively, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia), or any other ethnic/racial group as "stupid", "inferior", "retarded", or "subhuman" will - in most cases - bring us down on you like a ton of bricks.
2) In keeping with an earlier ruling (linky), referring to anyone as a "Jewish Nazi" without any further discussion will be treated as trolling. Quoting the earlier ruling, "Writing posts detailing alleged similarities between a Jewish individual's politics and National Socialist politics is permissable; likewise characterising someone's views as racist and/or supremacist. We are not trying to shut down debate. But one-sentence posts dismissing Jewish posters as "Jewish Nazis" without any further point of discussion are trolling/flamebaiting."
3) As with "Jewish Nazi", so with "self-hating Jew" - one-sentence posts dismissing Jewish posters as a "self-hating Jew" without any further point of discussion are trolling/flamebaiting
CLAIMS SHOULD BE SOURCED. But specifically note the following.... Wikipedia is an acceptable source; as are major media outlets, regardless of their perceived bias or lack thereof. For example, both the Guardian (UK) and the Jerusalem Post (Israel) are considered acceptable sources, despite the left of centre orientation of the former, and the right of centre orientation of the latter. Noting that a major media outlet has a particular orientation is valid; squabbling over whether a particular source is valid or not simply on the basis of its political orientation is strongly discouraged. Disagreeing with Wiki or a major media outlet is absolutely fine, but counterclaims should also be sourced. "Something my Rabbi/Imam/cousin told me after synagogue/Friday prayers" can still be brought up as an anecdote, provided it's clearly signalled as an anecdote rather than as a proper source.
If we find that people are exploiting loopholes in the above rulings, or coming up with new ways of insulting each other that are specific to this topic, we reserve the right to edit this OP to address these accordingly.
We encourage you to be polite to each other. We appreciate that this is a topic over which people have strong feelings - but this is no excuse to be rude.
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And with moderation out of the way, here's your starting point of discussion:
With Obama's visit to Israel possibly coinciding with the official announcement of the form of the new post-election Israeli government, will either the US President's visit or the form of the new government make any material difference to the Middle East peace process? If not, why not?
