The reality of an actual State of Palestine came one step closer following Israeli Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu’s telephone conversation Monday with U.S. President Barack Obama. Following conversation, said to be mostly positive, the Obama administration the formation of a special executive committee that will work toward the reality of a Palestinian State, along side with the State of Israel.. The special committee will work closely with groups from both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in all relevant areas, including administration, land appropriation ( including final border lines); economic and social preparation, and other important areas.
In the immediate future, according to their conversation, Israel is to freeze the formation of all new settlement activity, as well as the expansion of present settlements. All activity connected with illegal “outpost” settlements is specifically forbidden and those involved in it (especially in a violent nature) will be subject to full legal prosecution.
A special international conference, made of both Israeli and Arab delegates is to meet in the coming months to work out to terms of the two state agreement; according to proposed requirements from both sides.
The White House is still waiting to receive the answers to two important questions from P.M. Netanyahu concerning this entire matter: s Israel ready to stop construction of outpost settlements and is Israel ready to enter into negotiations on the reality of two separate states? Both aides presently have issues that are in conflict with each other, especially in regards to final territorial agreements, and whether the new state of Palestine will be allowed to have full nation status, including the right to a self defense force similar to neighboring countries like Jordan and Lebanon. Israeli government officials are more in favor of a neutrality arrangement for the Palestinians in which they will have a neutral status, similar to Austria or Switzerland, and be limited to a paramilitary police force similar that what they presently have.
Arab countries, who will hopefully be participating in helping the Palestinians achieve statehood, want Israel to go back to the pre-June 1967 borders; something that at present is not acceptable with most Israelis. Many Arab leaders, including those in favor of the “Saudi Plan” say that if Israeli agrees to this, it will receive full recognition by most Arab countries. Countries who will be actively participating in the diplomatic process include the US, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Persian Gulf Emirate states. Many other countries are expected to join in as the process moves toward the 2012 target date completion.
How the Hamas ruled section of Palestine in Gaza will figure in to all of this still very much an undecided issue at present, and this is one of the most problematic issues of the entire matter. There is also the matter of Israel (and all Jews for that matter) being fully accepted by the Muslim World; especially by Islamic clerics, who still preach from their mosques that all Jews are “descendents from pigs and monkeys”. Unless this attitude changes, the likelihood of a Jewish State of Israel ever being accepted by the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims is very distant indeed.
No sooner did Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu go off to Washington, a Hamas fired rocket hit a residence in the town of Sderot, the first in over two months. One woman was lightly injured when the rocket slammed into a storeroom in her back yard damaging it and her home as well. She was taken to Ashkelon’s Barzelai Hospital for treatment, and some other people were treated locally for shock. Later on, Israeli Air Force planes attacked targets in Gaza in retaliation, including areas in the Philidelphi corridor where suspected smuggling tunnels might be located. 
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit with U.S. President Barack Obama is only hours away, and already numerous commentaries are trying to predict what the two men will talk about when they meet today in the White House. Bibi Netanyahu’s wife, Sarah, will also have the opportunity to chat with Michelle Obama, who herself is an outspoken individual who even the President is aware of. Netanyahu has a lot to talk to Obama about, especially in regards to Israel’s future relations with a likely State of Palestine; and how to deal with the possibility of a nuclear Iran. 
The rock group Depeche Mode has come and gone, and so has the Lag B’Omer wiener roast and marshmallow toast. But P.M. Bibi Netanyahu and his so-called Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
Both Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu and his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, are not wasting any time in indicating how they will deal with issues regarding Israeli domestic and foreign policies. An earlier post dealt with 
The new government, when sitting for their first photo session on Wednesday April 1, which was also April Fools Day, looked more like that Middle Eastern tomato and egg dish known as 
For those of you not aware, Shakshuka is a tasty dish made by throwing red peppers, tomato sauce, eggs, an a number of spices into a pan and cooking them together for about half an hour. This mixture of ingredients has caused the dish to be named as such; Shakshuka, meaning a mishmash of things thrown together. 
In the aftermath of the just completed 
Security is a very important issue, and will always be so in a country still largely surrounded by hostile enemies. But as important as this issue may be, there are many others that need the most urgent attention. And two of these issues are the country’s dire water problem and the economic recession that the country’s population is now “officially” immersed in. Both of issues are none-the-less serious than the security one, and may even be eventually more difficult to deal with. 
The other major problem deals with the state of the economy, in which thousands of people, many of them engaged in technology based industries, are now unemployed and having to look for any kind of work just to put food on the table for their families. Although the world economic crises, which began in the U.S.A. several months ago, is not of Israel’s making the result has created a recession which is most likely to worsen before it gets better. The weaker elements of society, especially the old, the disabled, and the poorer sectors of the population, are suffering the most as they had virtually no reserves to fall back on even before the stock markets began to crash. Lowering prime interest rates to all time levels (now at 1%) doesn’t help much if one has no money to spend anyway. And Israel’s dependence on exporting goods and services to certain economically stressed markets, like the U.S.A., has resulted in a sharp reduction of cash flow to most companies, not to mention small businesses. 
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