You talk of an historic opportunity to bring peace through weakening Jewish presence in Israel. Perhaps, it would help if you first studied our history to help you decide better. The Golan has many remains of ancient synagogues proving that it was historically under Jewish occupation well before Islam came into being. Shomron & Judea has even more archeological, biblical & non-biblical historic evidence to support our claim that we are asserting our rights to our land. This is without resorting to religious claims to Israel, which alone should suffice. Being strong requires a strength, usually found alongside conviction. If you are lacking in faith, fine. It is obvious that outsiders who claim our land, have greater conviction then you. Only be aware, that your lack of conviction doesn't strengthen our enemies position. It only weakens our own. If you are a Jew study Judaism. Learn about the roots of your religion and its association with Israel. Without faith built on real knowledge, you really have no convincing argument for being in any part of Israel at all.

The retreats from Lebanon and Gaza were such wonderful successes we should keep it up. After the next withdrawl maybe those of us who are left alive can come and stay with you in NY. Don't worry there won't be many survivors.

If we give it back, then there were no stunning gains. And can I see a show of hands? Who still believes that negotiating with the arabs has brought positive results in the last ten years? Delusional psychotics like shimon peres and yossi beilin don't count.

person spinning around in his self made absurdity

Reality is so difficult to face, much better to retreat into day-dreams & denial with no thought to consequences, no accurate assessment of the goals of our enemies. Just keep repeating the same old failed slogans, like a mantra to gain heaven's blessing. "Peace....peace....peace...ommmm....peace...." - what a great substitute for rational thought. But down here on earth, where most of us live, there are consequences to delusional thinking. And these consequences mostly involve many of us getting killed. As a matter of fact, they involve the possible end of our country as a Jewish state. After our experience with Oslo, after our rather nasty experiment with disengagement from Gaza, it should be obvious to anyone with any common sense at all that this direction is a mistake.

There are some very likely consequences of following along with Mr Ben-Meir's ideas. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that we can reach an agreement with Abbas. This is a big assumption, of course, since most of the key issues involved are irreconcilable or politically impossible for both sides. What is the likely scenario? A Palestinian state is declared. Politicians get a great photo-op on the White House lawn. The IDF withdraws from the territories. Hamas, of course, is still in power in Gaza. I guarantee that within a few weeks of an IDF withdrawal, Hamas will take power, either making Abbas a figure-head junior partner or forcing him to flee, just as they did in Gaza. Abbas has virtually no support, even within his own faction, many of whom are terrorists just like Hamas. There will be revindications supported by a majority of Palesinians. Many will say the agreement was forced upon them by Israel & the US. No matter the terms, there will be more demands. Terrorism will continue but we will be more vulnerable, obviously less able to control what happens in the territories. Just as a side-issue, what will be the effect of a Hamas gov't. in the West Bank on our neighbor Jordan? I believe this will accelerate the process of de-stabilization already occuring in Jordan. This could be a case of the "Jordanian solution" in reverse - the West Bank will annex Jordan. Within a short time of our agreement, we will be discussing the re-occupation of the territories or at least a major invasion to control terrorism. And, this will be a very costly operation in terms of lives lost, international condemnations, & even the possibility of UN sanctions. We will have a real dilemma on our hands.

Let's assume that Iran does not as yet have nuclear weapons because if they do obtain them, all bets are off. We cede the Golan, uprooting at least 20,000 Israelis who live there. What do we get in return, aside from another photo-op (& maybe not even that)? How do we enforce whatever treaty we make with Syria? They can send military units into the Golan disguised as police. They can send in "settlers" who are really guerrillas. They can smuggle in arms - who will stop them? UN forces, like in S. Lebanon? Will we have "normal" relations with Syria? That's not even a bad joke. We will have the same relations with Syria as we have now - none. Will Syria leave the embrace of Iran? Why should they? What will we do about it? Will they end support for Hezbollah? They covet Lebanon far more than they care about the Golan. You know damn well they won't end support for their agent in Lebanon. Worse, we might find Iranian & Hezbollah units in the Golan - how will we stop them from infiltrating? Will they end support for terrorist groups? Also, why should they? On the contrary, they might increase support for terrorist groups. Syria will never be our friend. With this regime or any other, Syria will be an enemy state. And now we come to Iran. No matter what we do with the Palestinians, no matter what we do with Syria, the Iranian regime sees our very existence as problematical at best. Ideologically, they cannot accept a Jewish state in the Middle-East. They will continue efforts to undermine our security until they have nuclear weapons - and then, who knows? One thing for sure, if they have nuclear weapons, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, will feel very much emboldened to attack us in a war of attrition, protected by the Iranian nuclear umbrella.

Although I would normally use his proper title of professor, when someone shows such little common sense and lack of understanding of the situation I can not give him the credit that such a title deserves. If Israel did as he suggested, it would be a green light for other claims based on land given to Israel by the UN but once occupied by Arabs (yes occupied as they were not native to the area). Thus Hamas would be served even in Israel thinking about this suggestion, and would be pushed out to sea. Here is a man that needs to learn the materials he is supposed to be teaching: 1. You don't start negotiations with a full cipitulation 2. You don't negotiate with terrorists 3. Land gained in a defensive war is yours not the attackers 4. You do not undermine your own right to exist or the safety of your people 5. Israel should be asking for the lands now held by Syria and Jordan as being part of historical Israel, not the other way around - as neither country has a history of existing 6. The Golan Heights either belong to Israel or France, as Syria has no legal existence as the French parliament never voted to release it from the French Mandate

Indeed. It's time to abandon all the ideas associated with Olso. It's time to get rid of corrupt politicians who use a phoney peace process as a way of clinging to power. It's time to repudiate once & for all the stupid slogans like "Land for Peace" or "You only make peace with enemies" - It sure is time for a national turning point - actually, it's long over-due.

They will not be satisfied until they get it ALL - INCLUDING Tel-Aviv, Ashdod and ALL of Jerusalem. Before writing such crap, you should study Torah and find out EXACTLY what part of this country G-d has given to the Jews.

I would like to know what makes Alon Ben-Meir think that if Israel relinqishes the land captured in the Six Day War, there will be peace between us and our neighbors. As I see it, if the Golan reverts to Syria, we will soon have not peace with Syria, but rahter war with an Iran-armed Hizballah that has spread to the Golan. If the West Bank becomes a Palestinian state, what we are more than likely to see there is more of what we see in Gaza: bombs sent out over Israel.I would like to hear Prof. Ben-Meir's take on this dual scenario. Perhaps before he addresses the above, he could spend a one month vacation in Sederot.

Is that the ones in Israel have to live with the outcome of their retarded policies.

Mr. Alon Ben-Meir major mistake is actually lack of understanding of two facts: 1) According to the lLeague of Nations decision Palestine belongs to the Jews. So the "occupation" is done not by the Jews but by the Arabs. 2) The problem is not the "ocupation' but existance of an independent democratic Jewish State .

When will these silly leftist professors realize that the bogus Palastinians dont want peace. Read the PA Charter, their intentions are clearly stated. And why does this professor call Israeli land occupied? Any man with average intelligence would realize the Arabs are the true occupiers. Land attained during a war, which was originally ours in the first place, is not considered occupied. We can thank Peres for coining that phrase!

thanks ynet for your constant deluge of reality deniers contributors !!! About time to ask contributions from wafa sultan,daniel pipes,melanie philips to reset the balance !

will be cursed. It is in the book - the ones who hate us will be cursed.

What a bunch of the usual left leaning crap. Israel's relationship its strength is such deterrent, that it can afford to give away more and loose more, a die more. Have you been talking to Codi Rice?

BULL! This is propaganda and pressure by someone who does not understand the enemy, which is the same as that of the US and EU.

When did land for peace work with the Palestinians? Em, Gaza sounds good. Alon Ben-Meir is of the Olmert ilk and he and other friends of Olmert are all on their way to oblivion. Our soon to be ex-PM has two sons avoiding military service by hiding in the US; a daughter that checks Israel's soldiers that are risking their lives on our borders to make sure that they are being nice to the potential killers; and a wife who is left of the almost universally hated Yariv Openheimer. So Olmert has family pressures that cause him to make dumb decisions. What reasons does Alon Ben-Meir have? Mike

before swine and I won't waste my precious time saying more. Alon Ben-Meir

The land was never Palestinian - it is a myth! The so called occupied land - in fact disputed land - was part of Israels peace agreements with both Jordan and Egypt who didn't want them!!!!

All the money and military success comes from the US taxpayer and US Zionists; Israel itself is just an ungrateful and spoiled schnorrer.

Alon Ben-Meir should come to Sderot and make his pronunciations from there. However, he is correct about people living in occupied lands. Since the boundaries of the middle eastern countries were set by Britain and France at the Treaty of Versailles, Israel should respect those boundaries and return to the ones set by the British Mandate in 1922.

They MUST recognize our right to live in peace in our land and fight among ourselves. The must release our MIA's whom Hezbollah barbarically detain and first and foremost they must stop firing rockets at Sderot and the Negev and release Gilad Shalit. Then we can talk about peace. Actually, its not such a difficult thing to do because if they renounced terror and behave like humans instead maniacally crazed lunatics obsessed with death, then there would be no need for any retaliatory action by Israel and they could too live in peace and start looking after their own people. Oops, here lies the problem. They won't be able to blame Israel for all their woes and they will have to stop stealing the money they get from the UN!

Isnt that a shame! Your words are far from pearls of wisdom. Your vanity precedes you, as its obvious you deny the facts.

Even UN 242 doesnt call for Israel to abandont Eretz Yisrael. IN fact, according to 242, Israel is in complete compliance. Giving up the Sinai (a big mistake in my opinion) fullfulled that requirement. Best solution is to Cancel Palestine. This will create peace. 2 states, Israel and Jordan Palestine.

Rather than the following by-line under the article: "Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies," it would have been easier to say: "Alon Ben-Meir is an idiot."