IRAN-ISRAEL

Abarmard, you have a

Abarmard, you have a tendency to talk down to Iranians on this site. You also think people who disagree with you, are just dumb and don't understand your preceived "US-Israel's Colonial ambitions".

What you don't get is that not all of us subscribe to the same phobia as you do. There are always threats that every country should prepare for and have a contingency plan; The US has even a wargame against Canada.

We also don't subscribe to your solution to deter/avert these "preceived threats". Your solution for Iran is for the Islamic Repbulic to build Nuclear bombs.

A nuclear-armed Islamic Repbulic will neither protect Iranians nor guarantee the survival of the regime; if anything, it will give accelerate its demise and it will surely step up all the efforst for a regime change.

The perceived threats against the Islamic Republic and Iran will not be removed once Iran builds/buys nuclear bombs; it will only accelerate the process of regime change. Having said that, I do hope that the Islamic Republic obtain it's Islamic Bomb as soon as possible.

The game people play

I agree most of the stuff said by Trita and Roi, we are much alike and win a lot by peace. But there are two things that I think Trita does not count on and are missing in his calculations.

1.  Irans policies are not made by a dmocratic government with known responsibility towards its people. Neither is the power in the hand of the Mullah. The main power is where the financial power is and that is in the hands of some few familes like Rafsanjani and the top guys of Revolution Guards. If they feel it would be in their financial gain they would all become devil worshipers. The mullahs (and Ahmadinejad) have the power over the religious conservative people of Iran. And a good way to lose this power is to seal a deal with the big and small satan. 
2. Israel does not look for peace in the middle east. Israel is a country with 7 million people in middle of nowhere with no oil, natural resources or much vegitation to speak of... In case of peace in middle east, will it even hold 10% of the status it has now? Will it still be able to dictate USAs foreign policy? Will it still get the enormous financial aids from US? Will it be able to build settlements where it wants? Will it be able to keep Golan heights (fresh water)?

So when it all come to it Israel needs Mullahs and the Mullahs need Israel and both want status quo. Hey they are both doing great. Even if Israel attacks they keep doing great. Mullahs will get even more support from people in Iran, the rich families in Iran get Iran more isolated and in their power and Israeli elite would get more support from US because the region is more unstable.

Call me a cynic...

/Bidar bash ke ma bekhabim

Who in the first place

Who in the first place declared Israel as an enemy? The Islamic Republic of Iran NOT the Iranian people.

The Islamic Republic uses Israel as a tool to gain the support of the Arab masses because they know they don't have the support of their own citizens.

Israelis-Arab problem is not an Iranians problem; it is the Islamic Republic's manufactured crisis designed to supress the internal dissent.

Those who conflate the Islamic Repbublic with Iranians are only looking after the interests of the Islamic Republic not the Iranian people.

hhh

I wish people in the US thought the same about their country's role in the world and especially the Middle East. Unfortunately with some US policies in place, it has become our business, to some extend.

Jaleho, shiny head, Melakeh,

Jaleho, shiny head, Melakeh, etc. are Arabs. Iranians should not get nuked because of Palestinians and Arabs.

I have news for our Arab residents on this site:

Fight your own fight against Israel and leave Iran out of it...

Not negative, a realist I believe

I just don't like sugar-coating the ugly realities, inherently mutually exclusive realities, by wishful thinking. I leave that kinda sweet attempts to people like Steven Kinzer and Trita Parsi :-)

But not to be misinterpreted, I will add the following:

1. I am a NIAC supporter and admire Trita's effort in that front tremendously.

2. I did enjoy his book "Treacherous Alliance" a lot, and got copies for my friends last year as I thought it is worth reading. Not that I agreed with a lot of things in there. In fact, I thought the book would be a very good reading if you added two other perspectives that was not emphasized in Parsi's book:
Walt and Mearsheimer's Israeli Lobby; and Noam Chomsky's Fateful Triangle.

3. I totally agree with you that there are MANY progressive Jews (more in Israel than among US Israeli-firsts) who are trying hard to achieve a peaceful solution. I appreciate Parsi's efforts in trying to reach out to those elements.

But, I would not compromise on my belief on the nature of the State of Israel, its raison d'etre, the reality of the US foreign policy in supporting Israel to keep a status quo in the region which excludes Iran's legitimate regional ambitions. This is the SAME reason that Iran is pressured against any advancement, and there lies the reality of Iran and Israel's mutually exclusive role as a regional power, that is, so far as the US IS CONCERNED!

Naturally, there are good headed Israeli and Iranians who want to live in peace without being a pawn for the US, and that's admirable. But, you can not isolate those desires from the role that US has seen in Israel for half a century and spent $TRILLIONS to achieve that. Matters even get more complicated than that if you would include the role of AIPAC as W-M have presented. That is, AIPAC has made the US-Israel relation more complicated than just a big power using its little military base and dealer in a one sided way. We have a complicated case that the tail has been able to wag the big dog!

That's why I find the statement "Just like Israel, Iran has concluded that it can rely only on itself," repulsive and a falsification of the situation.

That is why I believe that good intentions on some good people on two sides can be just sugar coating the ugly REALITIES. That's why I think you need to read W-M and Chomsky's book to get a more complete picture. (Of course I am picking these books just as a good representative of the argument I am trying to make, none is holy and none is meant to be comprehensive)

One last comment regarding Shaul Mofaz's repeated barkings you referred to. That guy makes those comments OFTEN to become somebody in Israel, as that kind of rhetoric already made him go where he is now. He thought more of that would advance him further as the internal turmoil surrounding Olmert smelled like new opportunities. But, as you saw, people put a muzzle on him quickly! Of course, given that the oil jumped over 10 dollars on his idiotic comment, I am sure he probably made his financial killing that he had planned by the comment, even if he failed to make the political one.

The amazing vibrancy of Iranian democracy

"Iran is a vibrant quasi-democracy" Trita Parsi ... [et al.]

"Groups to be stoned to death" //www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,2204...

Jaleh, don't be so negative!

Jaleh says: "The one nation and the one country which has been pushing for a war, and in particular advertizing a nuclear war on Iran is indeed Israel. ...."

Hey Jaleh, I agree with you that the extremist Israeli politicians and their AIPAC arm have been very aggressive towards Iran for many years and long before Ahmadinejad said anything. Also as you said they have been threatening Iran with nuclear war. However I also believe there are decent political forces in Israel and the Jewish liberals in the U.S that Iran needs to work with WHILE making sure that it (Iran) puts in place the STRONGEST kind of deterrent so that psychopaths such as Shaol Mofaz don't attack. MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) is the only language that guys like Shaol Mofaz understand, but Iran needs to directly talk to people like Shlomo Ben-Ami (see Trita's article: //www.huffingtonpost.com/trita-parsi/how-to-a...)

Zio-Nazis are Anti-Humans ....

These animals have no humanity in them . Look at what they do to the occupied Palestinians, and you can understand a lot about their mindset. They are just a bunch of blood thirsty anti-humans.

A very sane viewpoint - peace between Iran and Israel

Proper analysis of the situation opens the door for solutions - peaceful solutions. I think most people who have some sort of disagreement with the article did not really understand the article, because the points they bring up has been addressed in the article and lack of understanding of the article is clear in some of the comments.

I think Iran does not require a disaster in order to improve. There is plenty of opportunity to resolve issues peacefully. The biggest barrier indeed is the lack of understanding of each nation from the other. Unfortunately the more sanctions and isolations are used, the wider this gap of understanding becomes and the more need for forceful action seems necessary. 

I think it is very clear that Iran, if the statistics are not exaggerated and skewed, can be reasoned with quite easily. 

This is the reason I really support Dr. Parsi (along with NIAC) - because he is so intelligent, and he has faith in the goodness of all people. Therefor he persists until he finds a solution to bring people together peacefully. We must take action and support him and NIAC. Go NIAC!

An Elected Dictatorship

... is the nearest definition one may choose to describe the Islamic Republic of Iran. Clearly, Mr Parsi needs a more advanced dictionary.

Israel is neither a friend or enemy

I must admit that i am very much inspired by Parsi's book. so my answer is indebted to his work.

Israel is neither a friend or enemy. This idea of having Israel as a friend to bash Arabs - or to bash Israel to have Arabs as friends is completely self defeating.

I agree with Parsi that Iran must get out of that vicious cycle.

Amir Nasiri - you would be wise to read Treacherous Alliance

Fred? Can you read?

Fred - do you even know what quasi-democracy means? Seriosuly, do you have any savad?

Before you start bashing whatever NIAC or Trita Parsi does, you might want to purchase a Webster's Dictionary.

Quasi-democracy essentially means that it has the appearances of a democracy, but it actually isn't a democracy.

But perhaps you would attack Parsi even if he said that Iran is a dictatorship?

One thing IRI regime is not even close to any democracy

Just one thing I disagreed with and I forgot to mention in my previous comment please do not use any shape or form of democracy with the current IRI regime. Current Iranian regime is a fascist state with theocratic, authorative system using the sharia law.

Iran's constitution is based on a book written 1000 years.

Mr. Parsi please do not refer to Iran as quasi-democracy. Please don't be afraid to call the fascist and racist as well as a dictatorship. You refuse to say that. In your articles, books and in your TV show appearances. Please be courageous and criticize them and talk about their crimes.

The rest of the article is great.

Iran knows the face of its enemy

The one nation and the one country which has been pushing for a war, and in particular advertizing a nuclear war on Iran is indeed Israel.

Why should an Iranian make a comment like this just to make it appear in a sweet-sounding article in Haaretz?

"Just like Israel, Iran has concluded that it can rely only on itself."

Israel could not live a decade if it were not for the military, political, and financial support of the biggest superpowers. Iran on the other hand, was isolated, deadly war and sanctions were imposed on it by the very same powers.  

And the word Zionism is indeed a dirty word for most of the humanity, not just Iranians. It has been again the push of arrogant Americans like Bolton who forced the UN to eliminate the correct equivalence of Zionism and racism.

Great writing

Israel is Iran's best friend.

We Iranians will never forget if a country harms or defeat us and the will pay the price (GULF ARAB -- you will pay for your crimes against Iranian nation)

I hope we will not encounter that with the great Jewish people of Israel.

During the 1980's, the the so called terrorist Khomeini gave Yasser Arafat oer 300 million dollars mostli in gold to figh the Israelis. The in 1985 Arafat gave his support to the Iraqis during the 1980-88 war.

The current regime still provides support to Hozbollah, Hamas and many other Arab countries, despite all of them were cheering on the street and burining Iranian flags during the Iran-Iraq war.

So who is the real enemy of Iran and the Iranian people?

Valid points

Iran is a society that is coming out of historical dictatorship. We had never had a democracy until a historical recent try out, after 1906 revolution where the British wanted our oil and therefore distracted our move to stop where we were headed, a democratic Iran.

It is true. Iran has a religious government that has authoritarians flavor but not fully. The reality is that the system is setup for no one individual or group to have a complete say. That has been one reason that things don't move as fast in Iran.Doing inhumane punishments are half based on the regime and half the traditional people who accept it. Yet it is changing. We are the transitional system and culture. We can not reach democracy and freedom over night. I believe this article is correct in its explanation.

Thanks for the great article, I certainly learned one thing or two about Israel.

video: Blindfolded Palestinian man shot

The following video is a recent video showing the brutality of Israeli army aganist blindfolded Palestinian youth. Watch:

//youtube.com/watch?v=k_TgttR9V0k&feature=related

With all due respect let me differ on a few points described in the article:

1. Israel is not a democracy it is a racist society confiscating and building on the natives' land. It has erected 24 feet walls around the Palestinian camps. More than 4 million of these native people have been driven out of land forcefully and mostly live in refugee camps.

2. Iranians are not lonely and distrustfull. They have had cultural and religious bonds to all their neighbors for centuries.

3. Zionism may not be a dirty word to the Israelies but to the rest of the world it means racism and aparthied. Even the United Nation in 1976 proclaimed Zionism as a Racist Ideology. AhmadiNejads misplaced comments and big mouth is no excuse for what zionism stands for. It maybe a national liberation movement to zionist jews but it means the eslavement of a whole people called Palestinians.

The majority of Iranians, Arabs and muslims of the world are against the enslavement of Palestinain nation by the jews in Middle East. We should differentiate between the victims (Palestinians), victimizers (Israeli jews) and sympathizer of the victims. As long as the Palestinians are enslaved by the Israeli jews there will be no real peace between Iraninan nation and Israel.

Eventhou

I find some truth in the article; I don't believe that Iran is quasi-democracy as Trita suggests. I find that sentence very offending. The constitution is Shia theocracy which has no respects either to other faith or other ethnic groups. It doesn't even respect the so called moderate groups within itself. This is a country where there is no freedom of speech nor individual right and the list goes on...So dear Trita please refrain from that word.

As for Malekeh_
I hope that the nuke issue resolve as soon as possible so that the nations can concentrate on the main issue which is human rights violation by that regime.

Israel and the Iranians.

Once again, the unelected, illegitimate clown puppet of the thugs of the occupier Islamic regime, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “The Monkey” to Iranians, has spewed some outrageous statements against the “State of Israel”.

In a fiery speech delivered on Sunday, on the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollaha Khomeini, the father of Islamic terrorism, the Monkey said that “Allah willing, in the future we will witness the destruction” of Israel.

No sooner did President Ahmadinejad emerge from obscurity and assume his new role as the head of the Executive Branch of the Islamic regime in Iran than he unleashed a torrent of venomous rhetoric against the United States and Israel. This is contrary to the sentiments of the majority of Iranians.

Ahmadinejad does not represent the Iranian people any more than his turbaned-colleagues presently ruling Iran do. What needs to be understood is that in fact Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, above all else, are true Muslims and despise anything “Iranian” and its ancient “pre-Islamic” heritage.

Iranians are proud of their historical friendship with the Jewish people. The bond of friendship goes back to the landmark action of King Cyrus the Great of Persia. In 537 B.C., having conquered Babylon, the benevolent King Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and empowered them to return to the Promised Land and build their temple.

The majority of Iranians nowadays want to distance themselves from the Islamic regime in Iran and the likes of Ahmadinejad. Iranians wish the world to make a distinction between Iranian People and the despicable Islamic regime, its wicked followers and traitorous lobbyists.

“The Monkey” sees Jews as the sworn enemies of Islam. The hostility dates back to the time of Muhammad’s own treatment of the Jews in Medina. At first, expediently, Muhammad called the Jews “people of the book,” and accorded them a measure of tolerance until he gained enough power to unleash his devastating wrath on them.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "shocked and dismayed" at a report that Iran's hard-line president said the world would soon witness the destruction of Israel, the United Nations said Thursday.

It is time for the world to see Ahmadinejad and his handlers for what they are. These end-of-the-worlders are not interested in any negotiation, any compromise or live-and-let-live. They are determined to be the soldiers of Mahdi come-what-may. They have no problem with the total destruction of the world. They are headed for a life of eternal bliss in Allah’s paradise. They hardly care, they would even rejoice, if the rest of humanity is subjected to a tragic death in the nuclear, biological and chemical wasteland of planet earth.

What make matters terribly dangerous are the modern instruments of force and the willingness to use them. Centuries ago, the sword in the hand of the Islamists carved a huge empire. Now, with the weapons of mass destruction, the entire world is at peril.

Iranian Muslims are victims of the Islamic virus that has destroyed in them their traditional respect for diversity. It is the Iranian ancient fundamental belief in the validity and value of diversity that has held the nation together over the millennia.

There exists such duplicity within the Iranian culture. Originally, Iranians were forced to accept Islam to save their lives from the Arab invaders, but deep inside the heart of every single Iranian alive to this date, the burning sensation and resentment of the Arab-Islamic invasion to their culture is forever enflaming. Most Iranians may actually confess being Muslims; yet, the overwhelming Iranians have never read Quran or understood its language. The events in history have toughened Iranians gravely. They have become great pretenders.

The greatest celebration in Iran is the Persian New Year or better known as Nowruz, not the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (like in most Muslim countries) in whose name Iran was conquered and millions of Persians were perished. Iranians have not forgotten that, and they never will.

Throughout history, Iranians have been known for their tolerance of other creeds and religions. This was particularly notable in their associations and contacts with the Jews. Having been oppressed by the Seleucids and the Romans, the Jews had come to believe that Iran was the only superpower capable of saving them from a fanatical foreign yoke, as it had done once before in the Achaemenid period.

The Parthian dynasty role in the liberation of the Jews gave rise to the well-known saying: “When you see a Parthian charger tied up to a tomb-stone in the land of Israel, the hour of the Messiah will be near". This shows the respect of the Jews for the Persians as their savior. Unlike what the clergies are preaching today, the majority of Iranians have enjoyed being a good host to their fellow countrymen, the Jewish population. “In the continuous struggles between the Parthians and the Romans, the Jews had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and to side with the Persians: their protectors.”

True Iranians have remained friends of the Jews by both belief as well as deeds. During the shameful Hitlerian campaign of exterminating the Jews, for instance, Iranian missions in Europe, notably the one in France, issued Iranian passports to facilitate the flight of French and other European Jews from the claws of Nazis and their gas chambers—the very gas chambers that the true Muslim, disgracing Iranians, Ahmadinejad, denies ever existed.

Iranians stand for the rights of the Jews as well as the equal rights under the law for any and all religious and secular people. “A friend in need is a friend in-deed,” is an apt saying. It is time for Israel to reciprocate the historical assistance of the Iranians at the hour of their needs. It is payback time now. Israel should give the Iranian people a helping hand by supporting the freedom-loving Iranians. It is the Iranian people who can best end the tyrannical and menacing mullahcracy that is posing a deadly threat to all concerned.

AIPAC I versus Zionism (to Malekeh)

Malekeh, I agree with you that AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and Isreali extremists are behind many of the past and ongoing disasters in the Middle east. I also have no doubt that if AIPAC/Neocons did not have these miserable failures they would have already attacked Iran. However I don't believe that all the Zionists are with AIPAC. I strongly believe that we should differentiate between AIPAC and Zionists.

Yes to Peace

The first sensible and unbiased essay by Mr. Parsi. Thank you.

It is time to stop the madness and hate.

Malakeh: Stop villifying other nations and people. Hate begets more harted and violence beget more violence.

You Seem to Have Forgotten ....

Before Mr Ahmadinejad became President, and had his "World Without Zionism" conference, Iran was threatened by Israel every 2-3 months (most notably druing Khatami's tenure) not over nukes or any of that but becasue in their word "iran was supporting palestinains". Now that the world has understood the cimes of zio-nazis on palestinians, and they cannot play the blame game on that front on Iran, they are are stuck with nuke issue as a reason to attack Iran. I guaranttee you that if this nuke issue is resolved, they will decry to attack iran for still another bogus reason. The reason for all this  is that zio-nazis are thirsty for blood of nations. One way or another they will find a reason. Prior to Iran was Iraq, and after Iran there will be another nation. Watch my words.

vow

I had no idea Iran is quasi-democracy! wholey cow, imagine if it wasn't! I am amazed how these people live with lies and chert o pert every day of thier life. I mean what happens? you lie so much perhaps for few box that at some point you loose your touch with all the senses of reality?
P.s I wish streets and places in Iran were named after the poets. It's usually named now and days after murderers like chamran, shiroudi you name it!

incredible article. I loved

incredible article. I loved it. thank you

Thanks Trita and Ben

Another good article Trita. Thank you both.

Vibrant stones

“Iran is a vibrant quasi-democracy”, before the sentences are carried out the authors, specially the president of NIAC lobby might want to let the nine human beings who are waiting to be stoned to death know about the vibrancy of this quasi-democracy.