US Election Not Only Item On The Plate

This will continue to unfold, but is already crap.

Israel's new deputy prime minister on Sunday called for a near-total separation between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land, sparking a wave of condemnation less than a week after the far-right politician joined the Cabinet.

Avigdor Lieberman's statements fanned fears that his inclusion in the government would make it nearly impossible to renew stalled peace efforts with the Palestinians and could damage already shaky relations between Israel and its Arab citizens.

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In the interview with Israel's Army Radio, Lieberman said there was no hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, so physically separating the two peoples was the best solution.

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``I don't know why the Palestinians deserve a country that is clean of Jews . . . and we are becoming a binational country, where 20 percent of the population are minorities. If we want to keep this a Jewish, Zionist country, there is no other solution,'' he said.

Lieberman's fellow ministers, including Olmert, quickly distanced themselves from his remarks. Ahmed Tibi, an Arab-Israeli lawmaker, said the comments amounted to ``a call to ethnic cleansing.''

Olmert brought Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party's 11 seats into the government last week to shore up a shaky coalition -- a move roundly criticized by doves and Israeli Arab activists, who equated Lieberman with far-right politicians Jörg Haider of Austria and Jean-Marie Le Pen of France.

Olmert can shy away from Lieberman all he wants, but he does buy into his ideas. Otherwise why would he have put him in a position where Lieberman could one day be the PM? Just asking.

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