In the current debate over the entry of Palestine into the UN the voices of Netanyahu and Turkey's Erdogan speak the most clearly. The speach of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rooted in the past, in old fears and ledgers of suffering balanced up again in thread-bare fashing. It was the voice of the 20th century. The arguments of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan were a strately contrast, he spoke of the present and the future. He spoke of Israel's acts of violence against Turkish citizens, but also of the efforts for peace he has been engaged in. He did not dwell on past problems, and he recognized Israel's situation, but he noted that Israel was not addressing the future. Rather it was making enemies in the present.
Israel's peace movement cannot count on creating a new peace leader after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, whether at the order of the war party or due to its rhetoric. The voice of peace in the Middle East can best now come from Turkey, both due to its stature as a NATO nation, and its economic success and largely secular status. The solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem must be regional and Turkey can achieve that end by a comprehensive approach, but it must have the support of both the Israeli peace party as well as the Palestinian organizations.
Netanyahu can only act with past threats, presently announcing new housing projects in Jerusalem. No solution can come from his war party, it can only come from the people with the help of the Israelis who want peace. The time for change is now, now when Israel needs to address its oligarchy, its concentrated wealth (http://www.dailykos.com/...) , its thousands of unemployed youth (http://www.dailykos.com/...), its religious parties and their power in the government support for ultra nationalist and fundamentalist organizations where families of these groups need not work, serve in the army or otherwise serve the common enterprise. The past has a hold on Israel and it is sapping its strength and blocking the road to the future and to prosperity.