Why should Israel take Abbas more seriously than the Palestinians? He is the ex-President who does he represent? The Gaza Strip is run by Hamas and they do not respect Abbas. The refugee camps, where Muslims keep other Muslims, do not respect Abbas. Even in the west bank he does not represent all of the population. If he can not be less Palestinian than Mrs. Clinton why should Israel be more Palestinian than the Palestinians?

what dooms them is an election which hamas will win after which the idf will doom them if the do gooders get out of the way for once so the jews can live free in their own land like other people--let arabs care for arabs as the jews do for eachother

So, should Israel retreat to the 1967 borders and allow a right of return so that there will be an agreement. Most Jews would say no. I find it silly when individuals or countries say that Israel must reach an agreement. It takes two to tango. Israel can reach an agreement when it has an acceptable offer.

Israelis are enjoying the status quo--continued settlement expansion, no hard choices requiring them to cede land to the Palestinians, no need to face down their Zionist extremist anti-peace elements, a strong economy thanks in part to a lack of threats inside of Israel proper due to strong security cooperation with the PA, the international community subsidizing the occupation by giving the PA continued "aide". Things are great for Israel. Too bad it won't last much longer if Israelis keep up their policies. They will be sorry when moderates like Fayyad and Abbas are thrown out due to the failure of a peace process and the realization that Hamas and other rejectionists are actually right--Israel does not want true peace and the "peace process" is a sham.

This is just finding a way to later on blame the Jews for the existence and legacy of Hamas. They will say, if you hadn't stood up for yourself, the nice beautiful Fatah wouldn't have vanished.

the failure of Israel to surrender on any one of a number of different issues could lead to the collapse of the potemkin president, abbas. as long as Israel is capitulating, everything will be OK for abbas. so what! it's time to smarten up.

The pathetically low calibre of many Israeli leaders is mind boggling. What is this fruit cake saying? That Israel should concede our heartland to prop up Fatah terrorists! Absolute lunacy! Fatah terrorists are more deadly than Hamas terrorists and share the same goal of destroying Israel. More Israeli civilians have been maimed and murdered by Fatah terrorists than by Hamas, Hizbullah, Al Quada and Islamic Jihad combined. Israel's goal should be to destroy Fatah and the P.A. Not to prop them up.

...of the security fence and let the terrorists,with and without uniforms,fight it out amongst themselves on the other side. This is some of the best news that I've seen lately and it looks like Mr Netanyahu is handling the situation better than some people think. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

Talks have had successes and failures for 17 years now and the PA has never collapsed. Its possible Abbas will be fall if he ever agrees to hold elections but as he was supposed to have held elections nearly 2 years ago he doesn't really have any authority anymore. If he makes a compromise on anything Hamas and the other palestinians against his compromises will say Abbas was not legally president so he had no right to make that concession.The palestinians need to hold presidential elections if Abbas is going to have any credibility. Does these know alls in the IDF think we should accept any demand the PA makes to avoid them collapsing? What happens when they threaten to walk out of talks over the right of return, will the IDF tell us to give it to them so the PA doesn't collapse? Israel needs to consider its own interests in these talks IF THEY HAPPEN not base talks on how to help Abbas survive and avoid the downfall of the PA.

Israel is fooling itself, if it believes that Chaims remedy fo bring a lasting peace is feasible. Israel is hated everywhere in the world. USA Jews are abandoning its cause. Post Zionists have a voice and clout. Leftists, Jewish and gentile, are as much at war with it, as Hamas/Hez. Iran's Shihabs, Zelzels, No Dongs..coupled with Hamas/Hez., Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey have every inch targeted. Israeli cities will be wasted, and for what? The ultra-Orthodox wont fight and will leave the country. A nuke exchange or with WMD. Israel is small, miniscule, and vulnerable. WO the US suport, it will implode from within, Chaims fantasies notwithstanding. Bibi knows the US, Israel, and Israel's power. Israel is impotent..it is not the Israel of 67. Go with the freeze for 3 months..then decide what is in Israels interests. Take my advice..your necks are getting closer to the final jihad, the mother of all battles. The planet is agin you.

Fatah has carried out a majority of all the terrorist attacks. So how is Fatah so different from Hamas exactly?

So what this report seems to be saying is that the PLO is not the real representative of the Palestinian people any more. That means that Oslo is indeed down the toilet. Maybe it's time to move Fatah out and see who the real leaders are? And if it is indeed Hamas, then yes, maybe we should build a big wall, and if Hamas sends a rocket over it at us we respond with carpet bombing. Remember, folks. The peace process is dead in the water because of Hamas. Hamas wants war, not peace - that is their official policy. They respond to military moves, not diplomatic moves. They are like the Taliban. They do not care for international law or civilized society according to the rest of the world.

when he is no longer useful they will get rid of him anyway Better to see the real face of our enemies than what we prefer to see- allowing us to dream that we could have peace with those that wish to destroy us. The PA teaches its kids to hate us and that palestine is all of Israel- what do we need to protect Abbas for?

Its to late to sell the idea to anybody now because oslo has been around so long but the ideal solution would have been to give Jordan a huge payoff to give all palestinians citizenship ( money talks ). The majority of palestinians would probably have gone along with it and the PLO would have collapsed. Israel would then agree to give a certain parts of Judea & Samaria to Jordan and what we don't return would be internationally as belonging to Israel including 100% of Jerusalem. All Jordanians in Israeli territory would be encouraged to leave but any who wanted to continue living in their homes would be given residency permits on the condition they swear an oath of loyalty to Israel to obey all its laws and they would not get involved with politics in anyway etc. If they wanted to sell up and move the residency visa would be suspended as they have taken a decision to move & they are not Israeli citizens. If they could not find a private buyer then they would be bought by the Israeli government which would then sell the land to developers. That way we slowly loose the arabs without a fight.

The PA can kiss the 1/2 billion dollars a year in US aid goodbye, and forget about getting another freeze for any reason.