If Israel is going to have to stay in the West Bank, then in order to keep its viability as a Jewish State it is going to need a massive Influx of Jewish Disaspora investment and immigration. Jewish communities of the world, are you listening? Those people who think the West Bank Arabs are just going to pick up and leave are living in a dreamworld.

There is nothing wrong in what you say, its all true. However you are basing your article on the supposition that all these emissaries are truly looking to resove this conflict. I for one no longer believe that, their motives are not true and most definately not looking out for our interests. On the contrary, I think its all a mask, masking the hidden desire of dismantling the "mistake" of Israel existing. They no longer want Israel to exist. They think without Israel they can leave the arabs to themselves, killing each other off ad nauseum and leaving the west out of the equation. Of course they foolishly think they will be left alone. Either way you look at it its 1939 all over again. Israel like the Sudentland is being offered up on a silver platter. Its only the foolish lefties in Israel that still believe giving up territory will bring peace, the western powers know better that it wont, but it readies the lamb read Israel, for the slaughter. And the horrible truth is that Israel is helping them in her own march towards oblivion.

just tell them that the day before 9/11 the saudis and americans agreed to impose apalestinian stae on israel and the day of the 7/7 bombings the G8 gave billions of dollars to the palestinians thus promoting the peace process causes death and destruction worldwide. The world is resolving itself into two regions one of law and order namely israel and the US where the authorities are relatively tough on terrorism and the region of disorder the arab and muslim world and Europe where they are soft on terrorism and crime

Boogi, do us all a favor: go into politics and lead us to the light! We are lacking leadership in today's world and you would be our best hope!

Why cant you endorse this policy and the people that support it?

But too much common sense for politicians to understand.

Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, go look at some elementary history textbook. Israel was created some 60 years ago, so there's no question of a "100 year" conflict involving Israel. This is like you claiming that you've been fighting in the IDF for the last 100 years. What next ?

This is the leader Israel needs. When I view him vs Olmert I want to cry. And yet the people go on like sheep allow Olmert to invite the wolves to feast. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

Mr. Ya'alon writes :" overpowering the regimes, organizations ... that support and feed it -- ". He also says :" demand Palestinians explain what they did with the $7 billion they received ". THIS latter quote means that the leadership of Hamas and Fatah are a band of armed gangsters -- they extract large sums of money from America, EU, Saudi Arabia, etc., as a RANSOM on a yearly basis -- by keeping the Palestinian people hostage to their NEFARIOUS schemes. QUESTION : how can we get rid of this menace (i.e. Hamas and Fatah) ? ANSWER : eliminate the top-40 leadership, even if they are living in other countries, of EACH of the terrorist groups active in Gaza Strip and the West Bank. To Mr. Ya'alon : this is an all-encompassing article with in-depth analysis. GREAT job. WELL done.

Nice to hear from one of the few good leaders still around.

You have a clear mind and I am proud of you. Your former masters, sharon and his pavlovian dogs chased you out of office and we all know the sad end. Please stay the course and seek the leadership of the nation. There is no one in Israel today who can lead Israel out of this mess, save you sir. I only hope and pray you will take up the challenge.

I like this line the best "In Israel there remain many, even among our political leadership, who hold onto the cherished, false belief that, if we just surrender enough territory, we can have peace. " Illusions die hard. let us hope they are buried before they kill us.

why do you "assume" that all these brilliant world leaders don't agree with what you say ? secretly, of course. if they admitted to the truth, they would have to answer 3 questions: -why did you let this happen ? -why are you letting this happen ? -what are you going to do about it ? answer to all 3 - let's blame the jews. and as the president of israel - mr. peres - said, back in '96, he doesn't count them as israelis.

in the Hebrew version.

their country. basically, they do harm and

expressed in #2? Or does everybody just want to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away?

Ever since its inception five thousand years ago, western civilization has found genocide unacceptable (and obviously rightly so) never the less from time to time western powers found that destroying their enemies' regimes and occupying their territory was not sufficent to ensure security, since the enemy civilian population was too bitterly hostile to make peace with. The only answer then became to expel them, so they could be bitterly hostile somewhere else, far away from the country trying to achieve peace. this kind of defensive expulsion has been carried out throughout history, and the expulsion of Jews from Judea and Muslims and Jews from Grenada are just two examples. And yes expulsion is perfectly legal and remains so despite anything the UN can say, since as an organization that has been utterly unable to bring peace ANYWHERE, it cannot dictate what people can and cannot do to achieve peace.

Jason, I agree with you that the Arabs in the West Bank aren't going to just get up and leave for nothing, but surveys among Palestinian Arabs show that most of them would leave if they were given financial incentives and offers to permanently settle in Arab countries. Dr. Martin Sherman of the Jerusalem Summit has written a similar proposal to what Moshe Ya'alon suggests in the article. Here is a link: http://www.jerusalemsummit.org/eng/hs_short_eng.htm It's time for the Arab countries to step up to the plate for the Palestinian Arab brothers and sisters they supposedly care about. Israel continues to absorb Jews from all over the world, and took in over one million Jews from Arab states. And yet the 21 sovereign Arab states refuse to take in their own people when they are in need. The Israeli government should initiate a strong PR and diplomatic campaign to get the 21 independent Arab countries in the League of Arab States to take in the Palestinian Arabs. The Arab countries should do what they should have done 58 years ago, especially since if they did not invade Israel and try to destroy it upon independence, there would have been no Arab refugees. Enough is enough. There's only one Jewish state (Israel), and it's smaller than Wales. Meanwhile, there are 21 sovereign countries in the League of Arab States (Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen). If the Palestinian Arabs are given financial compensation and given citizenship in any of the 21 Arab nations, and the UNRWA is dissolved, then Israel can survive as the world's sole Jewish state and keep the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

No one wants to impose Israeli citizenship on Arabs who don't want it. In fact there would be logic to letting even Israeli Arabs assume citizenship in the PA. What you raise sounds much like the "demography" scare issue and it is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Arabs in Ramallah are not Israelis regardless of who has control of access from Ramallah to Jerusalem. So a normal rate of investment is fine, although the congestion in the coastal plains makes building in the Shomron a rational alternative. BTW, what's with the PhD? Haven't heard of "appeal to authority" before. A degree in biology isn't relevant, so I exclude mention to it.

Finally someone who knows what he is talking about. Right on Moshe Ya'alon.

Although I'm not Israeli, I also agree that you are needed to lead the nation. Please, consider it Mr Ya'alon. The time is critical. Although you need to use diplomatic language, we talbackers don't. That's why I'll say that none of the parties involved, from Olmert to Bush to Blair, think for one moment that their plan will bring peace to Israel or anywhere else. They are intelligent people and have learned a lot from experience (Gaza, Iraq). They know what's coming after they create a new terror state. They know that Israel will be more vulnerable than ever and may not survive for long. Olmert's motives will be known one day - when it's too late, unfortunately. Regarding Bush, he thinks he can trade Israel for Arab support in his attempt to get out of Iraq with some dignity. Also he and other Western leaders blame Israel for Islamic resentment and terror. They wrongly assume that with Israel out of the picture - and the sooner the better - relations with the Arab world and Muslims in general, will run along a smoother path. The whole exercise of the "peace" plan and the creation of the state of Palestine is to get rid of Israel once and for all. That's why none of your logic would have any effect on those leaders. They know already. Mr Ya'alon, I don't know how to say this, but to leave the present government to safeguard Israel's interests may end up in great tragedy. Once documents are signed, once promises are made, it will be very difficult to backtrack. And pure appeals to logic from decent people like you won't be enough. Something drastic must be done to stop this process now.

You suggest that it would take extreme bravery for Ynet to publish an exact translation of Moshe Ya'alon's article in the Hebrew version. I suggest to you that it is an act of extreme cowardice for a nation to stand silently by and allow the Olmert government to deny the requested appropriations for defense. It is an act of extreme cowardice for a nation to be passive when Sderot parents are expected to send their children to schools without bomb shelters. How can there not be enough money for Israel's defense or the protection of her citizens when multi millions are being spent for the government's nuclear shelter being built deep within the Judaean mountains?

„The central conflict in our region is not territorial —it’s ideological.“ Totally right and totally wrong at he same time! The main problem is the fact that the Zionist ideology is territorial in it‘s very nature, at that territorial in a all-encompassing sense, meanig: the people previously living within the claimed territory can be disposed of at will. Either they become subservient or emigrate, otherwise they will be very sorry. But why should they stop resisting? The same as a foreign body in the flesh activates physiological defense mechanisms, Zionism as an alien element in the ME has enflamed fanatisms in the whole region. Jews will not be able to live peacefully in the Middle East before they give up these ideologically based territorial claims.

You write: Those people who think the West Bank Arabs are just going to pick up and leave are living in a dreamworld. Please read the following: "Figures released by the PA’s Central Bureau of Statistics reveal that over one third of Arab youth living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza would leave the Land of Israel if they had the means. Inter-Arab violence, unemployment and poverty are some of the main reasons for the exodus. In the last year alone it is estimated that tens of thousands of Arabs living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza have left Israel to begin new lives abroad." http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/132174

What a pity Moshe Ya'alon will not be running for Prime Minister in the next elections. He would certainly get my vote. Unfortunately, the very people that should be in government don't want the jobs - they are far too intelligent to get involved in such a pathetic and futile organisation. Therefore the only people wehave in governmen these days are those motivated by self-interest, greed and a desire for power.

"moral clarity"?! While Ya'alon was chief of staff he allowed the 8000 Jews of Gush Katif and the City of S'derot to be bombed incessantly and DID NOTHING. Day after day for three years he responded by dropping leaflets, bombing empty fields and empty buildings in Gaza to "send a message". When he was in a postion of power he watched his fellow Jews killed and wounded and practiced restraint - he's immoral.