Israel IS Judea and Samaria. If Olmert gives it away, please change it's name. Maybe Palestine?

go. The Palestinians are continuing to do what they have done forever and that is to stall, dawdle, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, hem and haw, make excuses, complain, accuse, blame, bitch, terrorize, blow themselves up in Israeli crowds, fire Qatushas, threaten, so on and so forth, etc. - anything to prevent the separation and to hide the fact that they don't accept the two-state solution, only a one state solution that does not include Israel. Does anyone still believe they want to end the conflict? I most certainly do not. Prey what is now preventing them from coming to the negotiation table? Hell fire, get your Palestinian asses to the table and let's be done with this farce, I dare you.

we don't need the damm Settlerstan. We surely don't need a Brasilian to tell us what we need. Most of us are happy with the green line border.

Sharon stabbed the settlers in the back and Olmert is gonna continue with the job. If you give them Yesha and Shomron, then you may as well give them Jerusalem. This land is ours...too much blood has been spilt for it, and there is no reason to give it back. Does anyone honestly think that giving it to the Palestinians will improve the security situation? It hasnt worked in Gaza. The terrorists are shooting quasams into Israel from the land we gave them. The same will happen from the WB and the consequences will be even worse. Rewarding the terrorists with territorial concessions will only breed more terrorism. The terrorists see this as weakness, and they will continue to exploit the Government's kind gestures.

Tough talk from #3 Judith, but I like the no nonsense sound of it :-). Arafat failed in 2000 in negotiations with Barak basically because he didn't want to compromise on the Temple Mount-he wanted P.A. sovereignty over it while he could've got custodianship + East Jerusalem + 98% of the West Bank and Gaza. I think Abbas is in the same or worse position so wanting to negotiate is just a delaying strategy for him. Haniyeh at least is clear and so is Olmert. But his govt. is not one with a stable majority if he has to take Shas or NU/NRP on board. A farce or rather a stalemate indeed, unfortunately.

Aren't the terms of disengagement now the same as the final offer at the end of camp david?

THIS was the clear outcome from the elections- and reality. If the racist Arabs want to live Jew-free lives, then they can do that in THEIR 99.9% of the Middle East- NOT in OUR tiny 1/10th of 1% of the Middle East: http://www.therightroadtopeace.com/eng/defaulteng.html

Just to make i straight, good man: You want to transfer all the Palestinians (3,5 mills) out of Gaza and the West Bank, and into Jordan? What about the mill or so Pals who are citizens of Israel; off they go too?

So, # 4 you do not want someone from Brazil telling you what to think----, haha, , but its ok for about 15-18 oligarch families here to brainwash you thru the media, tv, secular school system, what to think, and their message today is to blame the "settlers" for everything, you think # 4 that they are p--ed that their money laundering operation was canceled in Jericho?But now they have a GOOD BOY as P.M. to do their bidding, thats why the TREASURY portfilio will not get out of Kadimas hands---- please WAKE UP.

all this is empty talk . all this arithmetic after the fact, proves nothing and means nothing. if my grandmother wore pants, she would be called grandpa. sure olmert is not sharon. so what? nobody is sharon but sharon. so sharon is out. what does it prove ? that israel should come to a standstill ? we are all hopefully replaceable. and most of all, the journalists among us.

take our own fate into our hands. We all realize that there is no real partner on the Pal. side, just a lot of empty rhetoric.

And who exactly are you to tell us what we need? Actually, I sometimes value objective opinions of people who live outside of Israel much more than subjective opinions of Shenkinstanians like yourself. But I'm willing to hear you out. Maybe you'll suddenly show me the light. Just tell me why you are so sure that going back to the green line would help Israel in any way. Is it a positive thing that 90,000 people will be kicked out of their homes? You know they will all suffer from psychological trauma, and probably not find work, so there will be a huge social and economic burden on the country. I don't think you even understand these ramifications. And let's talk about the security issue. Terrorism will not stop, the Palestinian culture will continue to teach its children to glorify martyrdom and support terror, and they will still insist that we are occupying them because they consider every inch of this land Palestine. Therefore, going back to the green line won't change anything except make Israel strategically weaker. The most important thing for you to understand is that giving land will not stop terrorism, thus you will still lead the same tense life that you are living now; no magician can make this threat go away.

"Prey what is now preventing them from coming to the negotiation table?" Umm, how about, ISRAEL?! Have you been sleeping since the Palestinian elections? Once they were over, the Americans as well as the Israelis swore no negotiations with the new PA. You can't go to the negotiation table if there's no one on the other side of that table.

as long as the final borders are not established, this is the only way to go. since the palestinians will die for "every grain of sand" of land you get out of the areas you know you'll have to. as long as there is land that israel has, and the palestinians want, there is huge leverage. the final borders will be every bit as important to the palestinians to negotiate over, without a doubt. it is better to argue over these details (with less at stake) than the whole comprehensive deal, which is usually torpedoed over something relatively minor. no harm done in waiting - israel controls the game while still having much to negotiate over.

this comment posted on 3/30/06 after the elections ? the people have spoken. they don't want the settlers !

Look, I'm not going to sit in Chicago and lecture somebody in Haifa or TA but I do have a few questions. 1. In order to move a 100,000 odd Jews back behind a fence it's to require an astronomical expenditure of funds not for economic growth but for something that will cause economic contraction. 2. Based on the amount of men needed for Gaza this is going to require just about total mobilization of the IDF. 3. Will the religous soldiers, who from what I understand are the back bone of the combat units go along with this happily, will the IDF hang together. 4 If Israel leaves the west bank that gives Hamas and by proxy Iran a foothold in the mountain ridge that overlooks the coastal area, the "high ground". are you confortable with that. 5. The defense budget cannot be cut under these circumstances, when you combine that with the costs of withdrawal, (totally aside from the fragmentation of society) and the increases in goverment spending that this new governing coalition is going to want. . And a rollback of Netanyahus efforts to confront the oligarchies that plauge the israeli economy, particularly the banking monopoly. I ask you this, where is the money going to come from? I can tell you where it isn't coming from American Jewry, congress isn't going to appropriate the money for this and forget about places like the EU and the world bank. I don't see any way to thread this needle without destroying the middle class and subsidizing the Arabs, the black hats, and the elderly. And has far has I can see the only ones who deserve it are the elderly. The extremely wealthy have Olmert in their pocket, its the middle class who are going to get slaughtered here. Tell me where I'm wrong?

Another question: Sharon and Lapid told the people of Israel the they will keep IDF in Gaza. Do you remember this?

Read it and then we can talk.

The people of Israel have spoken: factions favoring or not opposing haHitkonsut dealt a crushing defeat to those who oppose it. Pragmatism is the new name of the game, and it is simply impractical (indeed, ludicrous) to stay entangled with several million implacably hostile people at the behest of a handful of fanatics who don't even respect the state that protects them! The Palestinians are crazy, arrogant and, frankly, stupid. No agreement will ever be reached with them. (And I say this as a person who for years insisted otherwise.) Since they can't be constructive and serious in demarcating their state, we'll do it for them.

Remember?

Bill you may be sitting in chicago,but you know more than the idiots in the govt. here. I wish the kadim gang and labor were as knowledgable,not to mention the alte kockers partyma-gil}.

you also can't negotiate with terrorists, thought about that? stupid kid. go, go away.

Jason; thanks, I appreciate it.. I actually have a question for you, an Israeli. Totally aside from politics and strategy it seems to me that Olmert is one of the most corrupt guys I ever saw in my life. He steals with both hands and his feet. Was this at all an issue in the campaign.

Bill it is really not an issue. If there was a politician or political party that was honest,then that would be an issue. No,that would be a miracle! His making Jerusalem the poorest city in Israel was not an issue. HIs sons living outside Israel and not serving in the I.D.F. was a small issue. Like his daughter belonging to machsom watch and spying on soldiers and border police at roadblocks to see if the interfere with arabs rights. Like the right to blow up Jews.The right to stab or shoot Jews.You know arab rights. He was not even man enough to debate bibi and peretz. He just dragged out the ghost of sharon every now and then. Being dishonest here is a virtue in politics and getting caught,but continuing on is the norm. Come see us while we excist.

Fair enough, OK question 2. I know something about markets and finance and I can tell you one thing. Peretz is not the guy you want has finance minister for reasons that are numerous and I'm sure you know. Also, a guy who looks like Stalin a little, has socialist leanings, and doesn't speak English may be a great foreign minister on visits to Paris but I assure you that Washington is a different story. And it's not because he is sephardic (believe me thats a bigger issue in Israel and is non existent in America) Has a card carrying member of the"lobby" AIPAC member and all, beleive me this is not the guy you want representing Israel in America. Yet, according to the way I perceive the system there he is going to be one or the other. How is Olmert going to handle this or is he on board already and doesn't particularly care.

jordan is palastin was a dream befor now it is not a dream it is unconcuose no dream in coma nothing need in coma only god help

Isreal must be a stable and democratic county. It cannot be democratic while pratising aparthied in Judea and Samaria. It cannot be stable with a miliion and a half Pals under lockdown. Judea and Samaria were a dream centred on other people's property. 98% of the population of Judea and Samaria do not wish to be a part of Israel. The territories are a drain on Israel's finances. They teach Israel's young people to be brutal occupiers. Jewish people have stood on the side of the oppressed in every land, it is time they stood on the side of the oppressed in their own land. I am proud of Israel to finally vote to free itself of the horror that is Judea and Samaria.

Apartheid is indeed a bad thing, Ben. That is why Jews should be able to live anywhere in Israel as defined by the Mandate, which includes all of Judea and Samaria. I know the Israeli secular schools are lousy (except in the sciences), but this is too much. Incidentally, if Jews who now live in Mandatory Palestine (a.k.a. Israel) are to be expelled from their homes, remind me why Arabs should not be expelled too? Let's start with Haifa. Incidentally, anyone who knows ANYTHING about Jewish history and culture could never refer to Judea and Samaria as a "horror." Now Tel Aviv and Haifa, maybe.

stay in the USA. We don't need fascists from the other side of the world selling us some kook "history". If Israel's borders are Mandate borders, then why should USA borders include Alaska, California and Texas???