There is little doubt that the Negotiation Process is littered with 'spoilers' What one Party sees as a 'Spoiler' the other sees as a 'Price' These are distractions, diversions and cannot be allowed to overshadow the inevitable So despite these exasperations..we have to simply keep the Negotiators out of the shadow of these pressures and work to conclude the deal And remember the Hamas-Fatah 'Unification' is just a side show to Palestinian National Statehood in the West Bank But as far as Borders and Settlements go in the West Bank the issues are clear and they mutually converge The Palestinian Key Priority in the West Bank is SPACE The Israel Key Priority is Security as its Central Pinch Point around Jerusalem So in some ways Settlement Building is a Non Story. Because for every unit of land we relinquish around Jerusalem we get 5x the Area in the North plus compensation for Resettlement so it serves BOTH sides equally well The State Capital is and will always be Ramallah whilst a new City of Jerusalem Al Quds the Spiritual Capital will be built from parts of East Jerusalem Plus there is a need to approach Jordan to look at the possibility of buying some land to expand the East Land Area of the West Bank Palestine as well

You might be telling the truth: some people who identify as "Palestinians" are descendants of the Arab invaders from 1300 years ago, just like some are descendants of Roman immigrants 2000 years ago or the Jewish, Druze, Bedouin or Samaritan natives. But read the PLO Charter itself: "Palestinians" include Arabs who lived in Israel for less than 1 year in 1947. If you study the facts, you will see that between 50% and 80% of the "Palestinians" are Arab squatters imported to Israel by the British between 1920 and 1947 to steal Jewish land.

Calling it for what it is: unless you want to expel a few million people to Jordan (good luck: ha ha!) or persist segregation (quasi apartheid), it's time for a viable Palestinian state. Let's see if Lapid carries thru on his threat!

Annexing Judea and Samaria ensures Israel retains control over the cradle of Jewish history and Jewish historical sites. Further, it would not create a bi-national state as the "palestinian" census numbers were inflated and the growth projection was inaccurate.

You should read his posts, not just the drivel he posts to this thread. The pilots who airlifted the Jews from Aden -- and it was ONLY Aden -- were actually volunteer bush pilots from Alaska. Great Britain and the United States had nothing to do with it. Try looking it up. And please learn how to spell. You'll appear less ignorant.

Arabs invaded Israel in 636 AD. By that time Jews had already lived for roughly 2600 years in Israel. Are you saying that 4000 years of Jewish history in total in Israel is less valid than 1400 years of Islamic history in Israel? Even if you would live an additional 100.000 years in Israel, counting from now, you would still be a foreigner since you don't belong to the native and original population. Your argument is pretty much this: "If we Arabs have stolen something centuries ago and controlled it for centuries it is ours irrespective of the fact that we aren't the natives and we aren't the owners of the land." STEALING our JEWISH HOMELAND centuries ago and living in OUR land for centuries doesn't make my land "yours" unless you believe in imperialism, land theft and rewriting of history. Arabs come from Arabia and Jews come from Judea. You have zero rights to MY land. You already have 22 artificial Arab states without history or identity.

Still proud and happy that I voted for you.

No. I think he is a television star who doesn't do terribly well when the cameras are not on him. Thus he feels compelled to seek the limelight at all times. But I'm sure he'll be very flattered that you find him beautiful and sexy. Personally, I think he needs to get his teeth capped. They're a major turn-off.

The "palestinians" in Judea and Samaria are not going to be offered Israeli citizenship. Judea and Samaria are nonsovereign, but the Arabs therein are all citizens of Jordan, courtesy of Jordan's 1954 Citizenship Law, which bestowed Jordanian citizenship irrevocably to all West Bank Arabs and their progeny. Upon annexation, Judea and Samaria will become a part of the sovereign State of Israel. The Arabs will instantly become undesirable aliens, and will either be repatriated to Jordan or deported to Gaza, where they can work on building a thriving state with their friends in Hamas. Will the international community howl? Oh, absolutely! They howled about the unification of Jerusalem and environs, and they howled about the Golan. So they'll how when Israel annexes Judea and Samaria. So what? Let them howl.

The Hejaz in the Western Arabian desert. 1300 years? Right around the time of the invading Moslem hordes. But your family doesn't need to relocate. We will very happily send them to Gaza, where they can build a shiny new unity government and a thriving state. Judea and Samaria are Israel's. Forever.

You are referring to the airlift of the Jews of Iraq. The conventional code name was "Operation Ali Baba." It was done by El Al, not the United States, and did not commence until 1950. Prior to 1950, the Jews who fled Iraq did so on foot. I am therefore still waiting for you tell us all about the airlift of Jews in 1948 by the United States -- the one of which you claim to have first-hand knowledge and personal experience. Giving the wrong citation is not helping your cause. It will go much better for you if you simply admit the truth: you have neither personal experience nor first-hand knowledge of such an airlift, because the United States never airlifted a single Jew out of an Arab or Moslem country, not in 1948, not in 1952, and not at any other time. As a matter of fact, with respect to the famous airlift of the Jews from Yemen -- the Jews had poured into Aden, which was a British protectorate -- both the U.K. and the United States refused to help. The Jewish Agency found volunteer bush pilots from Alaska to fly those airlifts. You do not vote in Israel, therefore your political preferences are irrelevant. Lapid is not as popular as you may think, and has alienated a considerable portion of the Israeli voting population since becoming part of the government. In fact, were the government of Israel to dissolve today, the clear front-runner would be Naftali Bennett.

You sir are the biggest hypocrite I have ever witnessed! You castigate Sarah for name calling in regard to Harold and in the same breath use words to describe Sarah as, bile spitter, intelectualy (sic) low brow, bigoted (which you can't even spell,) racist and rude, stupid and vulgar. Now I just called you a hypocrite so I am sure you will accuse me of doing the same that I accuse you of. Any intelligent person can see the difference. Further more, I share Sarah's opinion of this person called Harold.

Ps: will you like to do some pronostics about it? I say that probably new housing projects on settlements will rise in prices. Shalom

Why should the PM tolerate a cabinet member undermining the government of Israel? Such a minister would have been dismissed from the government in other countries. The government can survive without Lapid and his Leftist group that do not know the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Land of Israel. They are more loyal the Anti-Semite world than Israel. It is time the PM exerts his powers to rid his government of traitors.

Who is this "we" you are talking about? I know of no Lapid in Cleveland! I grew up in Ohio and Never Knew that it was Israel. Also, If you would bother to study the Bible instead of regurgitating lies others have told you, you would find quickly that the Bible is very clear on the return of the Hebrew people to the Land of Israel. Mashiach is tasked with reconquering Eretz Israel and regathering His People! And, a fine job He is doing also.

that means the infrastructure is provided by the israeli goverment (pipelines, roads, power plants, phone towers, etc) I guess there are rules on goverment contracts and concessionaries besides the license to build want to be sure they will sale and receive more benefits from israelis as clients than from Palestinians. To define borders between Israel and Palestinians defines how much money in taxes the goverment will receive from the housing projects, so Lapid could be right.

Make no mistake. West Bank Arabs will be deported to Gaza. But that's what they wanted, what with the "unity government" and all. We'll send them all to Gaza, where they can either (i) build a state; or (ii) kill one another until there's no one left. With one caveat. With their wonderful unity state going in Gaza, what do YOU think when a missile is fired off in the direction of Israel? That would be an act of war. Then, Gaza reverts to Israel and whatever is left of Gaza's population goes -- oh, who cares? Won't be Israel, that's for sure. Perhaps we can send them to you? Given your ardent support for that terrorist rabble, surely you'll make room, won't you? Of COURSE you will. Whether you want to or not. Have fun, and do take care to keep your wives and daughters well under guard. There's a history there, too.

The "palestinians" have never paid for anything; the "Palestine" Authority owes Israel millions of dollars in unpaid utility bills. The fact of the matter is that the West Bank did not have an infrastructure until the Israelis built one following the Six Day War, and that portion which falls under the control of the "palestine" Authority has fallen into severe disrepair. They have never built or sustained anything that did not involve violence and terror. At that, they excel; they are destroyers, not builders. That is why they will never have a viable state -- the extent of their desire for one is governed by their foolish hopes that Israel will depart quietly -- from the State of Israel, too -- and leave everything intact for them to seamlessly slither in. That's not going to happen. They may want a state, but they aren't capable of building one; nor are they capable of sustaining anything. Billions of dollars and billions of euros have poured into the coffers of the PA and the only thing they have to show for it are a handful of their "leadership" with multiple homes, some of them in Europe, and very lavish offshore bank accounts. Let's see what they do in Gaza. Mark my words; when the dust settles, and the bodies killed in the in-fighting have been buried, there won't be anything in Gaza that can be redeemed. It takes vision, drive and a lot of sweat equity to build a state. The PA and Hamas don't have any of those. They just like to kill Jews.

Alexander, where did your family emigrate from? The Ukraine, France or perhaps the Soviet Union? I bet you live in a tiny apartment in a poorly constructed apartment building. Whereas I have dunams of fertile land and a Villa in East Jerusalem. ALL MINE! And to Sara B...who cares what you think...my family and real estate holdings throughout Israel are FACTS on the ground, oh i get it, you plan to steal and expel us to Canada or St. Thomas??