So, are Tom Friedman and the New York Times going to push this peace plan, as they did the Saudi Peace Plan, the Geneva Peace Plan, the Road map...and every purported peace plan ever presented? How can anyone accept the Times' views when they do not even choose to honestly scrutinize and evaluate the different proposals? Here Iran goes from desiring to destory Israel to presenting a peace plan for the region.

Barely a week after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki declared Monday that his government was planning to propose to the United Nations a solution to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict.

According to Mottaki, the proposal was to be based on the ideas of Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.

Khameini said last week that the solution to the conflict involved, "a national referendum in which all true Palestinians would participate, whether they are Muslims, Jews or Christians, including Palestinian refugees throughout the world," on how to solve the Israeli—Palestinian dispute.

Mottaki's statement followed the cancellation of UN Secretary—General Kofi Annan's planned trip to Iran. Annan cited the "ongoing controversy" over Ahmadinejad's remarks last week as his reason for cancellation; however, Iran's official news agency reported that Iran itself requested that Annan postpone his trip.

The Iranian president's comments were internationally condemned, and UN ambassadors from both Israel and the United States immediately urged Annan to cancel his trip.

On Saturday 1,800 people in Los Angeles demonstrated against Ahmadinejad's comments, many of them holding US and Israeli flags or signs that read, "Free Iran."

Ed Lasky  11 07 05