Peace in the Middle East

If you're worried about Iraq, well, OK. At least we see signs of lasting peace in Israel, via CNN:

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a bid for political survival, struck an alliance Monday with a hard-liner who has called for stripping Israeli Arabs of citizenship, executing lawmakers for talking to Hamas and bombing Palestinian population centers.

It's nice to know that rational considerations will never take a backseat to political expediency, isn't it?

Yep. Did we mention the Israelis are putting this guy in charge of "'strategic threats,' such as Iran's nuclear ambitions."? Nothing to worry about here:

At the height of fighting against Palestinians in 2002, Lieberman, then a Cabinet minister, called for the bombing of Palestinian gas stations, banks and commercial centers.

More recently, he advocated trading Israeli Arab towns for West Bank settlements -- in effect stripping Israeli Arabs of citizenship -- and called for the execution of Israeli Arab lawmakers who met with leaders of Hamas, which is running the Palestinian government. Such positions have drawn accusations of racism.

I'm not certain why meeting with Hamas is racist. Shouldn't they have gone the "traitor" route? Yeah. Anyway, those uppity A-Rabs are tearing themselves apart over the appointment of such a moderate:

Saeb Erekat, a confidant of the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, termed the development an internal Israeli affair.

"At the end of the day, what we hoped for is to have a partner in Israel who is willing to revive a meaningful peace process that will end this miserable situation between our two peoples," Erekat said.

What the hell is happening? Stop the world. I want to get off, at least to buy a six-pack.