World View: Accusations Fly as Israeli-Palestinian 'Peace Process' Nears Deadline

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Genghis Khan owes his Mongol Empire to global warming
• Accusations fly as Israeli-Palestinian ‘peace process’ nears deadline

Genghis Khan owes his Mongol Empire to global warming

A study of tree rings in Asia shows that the meteoric rise of GenghisKhan’s Mongol empire occurred during several decades of warm, moistweather in 1211-25, that followed a period of severe drought fromabout 1180-90. The warm, wet weather provided rich, productivepastures fr the herds of war horses on which the Mongols and Khan’sinvading armies depended. According to the study’s author:

“The transition from extreme drought to extrememoisture right then strongly suggests that climate played a rolein human events. It wasn’t the only thing, but it must havecreated the ideal conditions for a charismatic leader to emergeout of the chaos, develop an army and concentrate power.

Where it’s arid, unusual moisture creates unusual plantproductivity, and that translates into horsepower. Genghis wasliterally able to ride that wave.”

Each Mongolian horseman in Genghis’s army is said to have had up tofive horses, which provided a supply of meat as well as transport.Higher grass yields would have also caused a boom in camels, yaks,cattle, sheep and other livestock. Independent (London)

Accusations fly as Israeli-Palestinian ‘peace process’ nears deadline

Pretty much everyone has known from the beginning that the Obamaadministration inspired 9-month Mideast “peace process” never had achance of reaching an agreement, but now that the nine months arealmost up and a deadline is approaching, all parties are positioningthemselves to blame someone else when the talks collapse.

The lynchpin that’s kept the talks going for this long is that theObama administration convinced Israeli leaders last July to release104 prisoners, in four evenly spaced groups of 26, from Israeli jails.All the released prisoners had been convicted of terrorist acts priorto the 1994 Oslo accords. But they’re treated as heroes by thePalestinians, and so the Palestinian negotiators are willing tocontinue the negotiations as long as the prisoners are being released.78 prisoners have been released so far, and the last batch of 26 arescheduled for release on March 28. The “peace talks” then officiallyend on April 29.

Among the issues separating the two sides, there are two majorones:

• The Israelis insist that since there will be a “Palestinian state,” the Palestinians should agree that Israel is a “Jewish state.” In fact, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has taken a firm stand against recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, and the Arab League has backed him, saying that Israel as a Jewish state would make Israeli Arabs second class citizens.
• The Palestinians insist that the Israelis must agree to a “right of return,” meaning that the grandchildren of Palestinians who lost their homes in the 1940s could reclaim those homes in modern Israel. The Israelis have taken a firm stand against this, saying that if all th children and grandchildren of Palestinian refugees were permitted to return to their 1940s homes, then Israel would no longer exist. The Israelis also point out that although there are many Palestinians living in Israel, not a single Israeli civilian or soldier will be permitted to live in a Palestinian state.

The U.S. State Dept. appears to be siding with the Palestinians, in astatement by State Dept. spokesman Jen Psaki said:

“The American position is clear, Israel is a Jewishstate. However, we do not see a need that both sides recognizethis position as part of the final agreement.”

Since there’s no chance at all of a peace deal by the April 29deadline, the Obama administration is looking desperately for a way tokeep the talks going on past that date. Presumably, the Palestinianswould have to have some other motivator to stay in the talks, once theprisoner releases have ended. Israel National News and Jerusalem Post and Russia Today

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