Yossi Beilin, considered the architect of the Oslo accords and a former Israeli justice minister, writing recently in the newspaper Haaretz, spoke of the United States presidents who had, one after the other, devoted much time and effort to Middle Eastern peace making; Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W.Bush and Bill Clinton. He added that, by contrast, the incumbent President Bush has been "nearly entirely absent...when Israel needs a powerful third party".
Mr. President. In your time and with your administration you have caused our nation to lose most of its legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim World. But this current disaster in the making in Lebanon is no regional contretemps, it is a battle and concern for the whole world.
We have already reached a level of suffering in Lebanon which cries out for international response. If this does not happen, fairly immediately,Israel might well follow through with its threat to launch a much longer offensive against Lebanon, possibly reaching Syria and, at the same time, increasing the air strikes against the very densely populated Gaza.
No, Israel didn't initiate the opening salvos of this conflict; that was the work of Hezbollah, but this time, (and there have been many other similar situations to which Israel has responded), the reprisals are out of control. I think neither side can claim the moral high ground in this current situation which is seeing international laws being broken; laws which outlaw the collective punishment of entire populations and which are resulting in increasingly heavy loss of civilian life.
Just a reminder, the prime minister, Ehud Olmert and his defense minister, Amir Peretz, are, by comparison to the past, a weak leadership team are nor from, as the Financial Times put it, "from the warrior class that has traditionally made up Israel's governing elite.". They went on to editorialize "This is no longer- if ever it was - some regional squabble . In present circumstances, every bit as much as during the cold war, a shot fired in the Middle East will echo around the world".
Remember, Israel's 1996 invasion of Lebanon was made with the intention of crushing Hezbollah.
Yes, we've traveled this rocky road before, but this time the regional context is far more troubling.
Where do my sympathies lie in the struggle between Hezbollah and like terrorists? Without the slightest doubt, with Israel, because terrorists and their supporters are not going to be satisfied with any concessions that the State of Israel makes in pursuit of peace. Their determination, their goal, is the complete destruction of Israel. Sadly there is no peace process.

Questions of the day for the President of the United States (the one who told the world, unintentionally, at the G8 summit, when a microphone was live and he was being dim, that China is a big country! He also stated, for all to learn, that Russia was big too).

1) Traditionally Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, no friends of Hamas or Hezbollah, have been pro-western, but now find themselves more and more alienated by our "War on Terror." Are they wrong and what can be done to bring them closer to our way of thinking?

2) Only your administration can rein in Israel. Why are you reluctant to do so, and does that mean that there will be no quick end to the fighting, and possibly, even less chance that Washington will be trusted to help forge a just and lasting regional settlement? Heretofore, in many situations, we have been the honest broker.

3) Based on your minimal reaction in words and/or deeds over the past 8 days, are you prepared to just sit on the sidelines, because you are pre-occupied with Iraq and preoccupied with Iran, pre-occupied with Syria, Pre-occupied with North Korea.

4) Will you be seeking regime change in Syria? Will you be seeking regime change in Iran?

5) Do you regard Palestine's elected Hamas government, like Hezbollah's political wing, as a wholly terrorist group with whom you will not deal? How do we defeat them?

6) Do you, Mr. President, take issue with the following comment: The invasion of Iraq has broken the country, triggered sectarian war and proliferated jihadi extremism and if so, what has been achieved?

I've just checked, the President of the United States was absolutely correct in saying that China IS a big country. Russia is large too? To nearly quote the president, "S...!"

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