I hooked up with Michael Totten today and we headed to the Old City to talk to some Arabs. Michael, as you may well know, is a well know ME journalist who writes for the likes of Commentary, Pajamas Media, City Journal and others.As it turned out we only had time to converse with one shouk merchant. This is what he had to say,America supports Israel and as long as that is the case, nothing will change in the ME. I argued to the contrary that the State Department has always been dedicated to pushing Israel back to the green line. He answered that Israel is still in the West Bank and America gives her billions. But America, I said, gives to both Hamas and the PA hundreds of millions. This he knew nothing about. Here was his bottom line, if Obama can't force Israel back, nobody in the US can. He is not hopeful at all. "The Israelis will never give us anything."Then he gave me a history lesson. In '47 Israel got 80% of Palestine and the Palestinians got only 20% (his words). And...(Read Full Post)