"Land For Peace" is now "Land For Temporary Lull in Hostilities" which is not even observed for entire five minutes. Israel continues to make concessions and receive absolutely nothing.

With the horrendous Rice deal, it's already clear the disengagement is doing a lot more damage than good. However, as usual Guy Bechor makes an intelligent point that is best listened to: whenever is some slight warming on the Arab side, we should respond to it without overdoing it. When we do that, it goes away completely. We do not have to crow that the Messiah has come because Silvan Shalom was served couscous in Tunis.

The ability of the Israelis to delude themselves never ceases to amaze me. The author has a typical "ghetto" mentality -- be quiet, do not ask for too much, be happy with what you get. Never mind that Israel is supposed to be actually a state and not a protectorate. The question therefore is what does Israel gain in a long run through this quiet economical cooperation and who benefits by it the most: Israel, as a country, or the Arab counterparts? Thinking just one day ahead isn't a viable option for the Israelis, not after realization that Israel is finding herself on the ropes, despite having all that powerful army and winning all those wars. As a result of Arabs' farsighted and determined policies and strategies over the last 60 years, plus a clever use of petro-dollars they succeeded at delegitimation and isolation of Israel AND securing international recognition for never before existent Palestinian people and their right of national self-determination, at the same time, Israel finds herself isolated and self-doubting. The failures of the Israeli political and intellectual leadership's are thus painfully apparent and so is their hubris. Is anybody in Israel actually capable of forming long term policy with clearly articulated goals, I wonder?

Has Guy Bechor lost his mind? Normalization with an implacable enemy is not possible, whether one takes a hard stance or one of appeasement. Historically, appeasement as a policy has ALWAYS been a failed process (to wit, look at attempts with Germany prior to WWII). Then, take a REAL look at the results of the Gaza withdrawl. It has accomplished not rapproachment, but rather served to (further) emboldem the Arab/Muslim world. Now, instead of launching rockets and mortars from long distances, the Arab/Muslims are launching them from the Gaza area, closer to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other populous Israeli cities. Next, look at the responses to strong moves by Israel against these terrorists. When force is used, they retreat and Israeli casualties decline. When Israeli diplomacy (retreat, appeasement) is the method, casualties increase. To conclude; normalization, while a nice concept is NOT what we seek, nor that about which we should be concerned. Long term safety and peace is the objective and, quite frankly, I'm not overly concerned that the Arabs MIGHT be offended by Israeli demands. They seem to offended just by Israels' existence.