BIDEN WARNS BUSH AND BAKER NOT TO LINK ISRAEL TO IRAQ

Biden Warns Bush and Baker: Don't Link Israel to Iraq (NYSun)
The keynote speaker at the Israel Policy Forum event was Senator Biden. The senator from Delaware had this to say:

I'm concerned by reports suggesting that the Iraq Study Group will link a renewed effort to advance the Arab-Israeli peace process with a solution in Iraq. I am not opposed to a bigorous peace process ... But the notion that an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement would end a civil war in Iraq defies common sense.

Israeli-Palestinian peace should be pursued aggressively on its own merits, period. Not as some sort of diplomatic price to make the Arab states feel good so they will help us in Iraq.

He called such thinking "dangerously naive." We're in agreement with the senator there. Other problems should be solved first, and therein lies the key to solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Let's hope Baker and Bush do take note.