I hope that Western Negev Communities are not the one's Olmert and his ragteam of ministers are considering. I lived in that area for many years and have many friends on the border with Gaza. But it makes you wonder with the lack of action down there against Gaza even cutting off electricity. I personally would be very angry if that was ever be preposed. http://ralphsrant1.blogspot.com/

And speaks from both his head and his heart.

He wants the Arabs to settle in the Negev and openly says this. He wants the Negev to bloom with Jews and Arabs. What about the north of Israel. There are plenty of Israeli Arab towns in the north. When talking peace, Israeli Arabs need to be included in the discussions. That is a must.

Hamas is in control. They won the election whether we like it or not. How can there peace if Israel does not talk to its own Arab citizens and Hamas and all Palestinian factions, How can there be peace. This peace conference will only fail. They need All parties to attend the peace conference..ALL PARTIES!

There is no such thing as trading our land. Gaza belongs to Jews and there is nothing to trade. Jehuda and Shemron belong to Jews and are not tradable. This guy should follow the son of Rabin who is trading Rabins stuff in Washington and LA - a much more honorable way than trading our Land. Move to Washington and trade efore everyone forgot your father. and you wouldn't be able to make money

To revoke the citizenship of those arabs already present would create will will. I just don' think there can be any good that can come from it. The "Israeli Palestinians" need to be a part of the dialogue to any lasting settlement as they too have a stake in the issues. You also have to remember that quite a few of these people cannot themselves go back to Arab lands for having helped Eretz Yisrael.

Your comparing Gaza to either Singapore or Hong Kong is like comparing apples to Oranges and Grapes. Singapore, though crowded, is a highly developed country that is living in peace with its neighbors. People live very well there, and whatever problem they have with overcowding can be more than adqueately adressed. If they can't build on new land, they can always build upwards into the sky. Hong Kong is fighting so it can keep its place in the developed world while also expanding democracy. The turnover to China has meant that it is always at odds with Beijing who wants to reign in on the territory and snatch its riches. Hong Kong would do better independent. But that's another story. Anyways, Gaza's closest "role model" would be Dubai. And the territory is nowhere near the levels of development that Dubai has. Gazans only have themselves to blame for it.

"Gaza residents and the Palestinians in general had every opportunity to turn the area into a positive place to live."............Mr. Sharon is dillusional.

Are you all crazy? This piece is a joke. I thought that people that post here went to a high school. Think with your upper body.

The law allows any Israeli citizen the right to be relocated in event of exchange of territory. This means that every Jewish or Arab family can demand compensation and relocation and the cost of any plan will be very expensive. If the goal were justified, getting rid of unwanted citizens is not, it would still be more than we can afford. In short, people touting dumping Israeli Arabs as a sell for a peace plan are selling us a bill of goods and only fanning the flame of bigotry.

It is an awfully bad joke to compare the Gaza Strip to Singapore or Hong Kong or even Dubai. Israel has kept total economical control of Gaza inspite of its apparent withdrawal, with the clear, although unadmitted goal to choke any independent economical development there. No wonder that the hatred of Gazans has been continuously growing since and that Hamas is in power now!

Not much different from his father - running after HIS interests rather than the national interests - a coward and one who surrenders in fear of his enemy...yup, just like his father

Before you go trading land and population, why not ask the Israeli citizens whose lives and homes you are giving away? As Israeli citizens, Arab Israelis have just as much right to determine their own fates as any other Israeli. After seeing how their fellow Palestinians treat one another (being thrown off high-rises and street executions come to mind), I suspect that Arab israelis would much prefer to live on the civilized side of the line where they can live their lives in a Western civilization instead of a brutal medieval setting. I also think that if given the offer to become part of a 'Palestine', or remaining Israelis, the results would be extremely embarrassing to the Arab World when most prefer to remain Israelis.

who has his own agenda. Is he not the man who should be in prison serving a sentence for wrongly obtained money - who is only still out of prison because his father is 'sick'. Or did I miss the fact that he has been pardoned by Peres perhaps. Surely this man should be treated as other 'criminals' and be made to serve his sentence instead of writing articles for the press. When he has admitted his wrong doing AND served his sentence, then perhaps I may listen to what he has to say, until then he should not be given a 'platform' for his so called wisdom.

A serious person does not quote a drug addict, the war is with Arabs who will not ever be satisfied with anything less than the total dismantling of the state of Israel, the problem is you and your kind who have already given up, have no Judaism hence no reason to believe in a commnity of Jews that you have abandoned, John Lennon the fat Beatle really LOL.

While I am sympathetic with the idea of exchanging parts of the West Bank for Israeli-Arab areas, I think in actuality its almost impossible. Say word gets out that in a palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, cities like Umm El Fahm will be handed over to the PA...if the Israeli Arabs do not want to be part of palestine (and they do not, even if they refuse to identify with Israel), as citizens of Israel, who can or will force them not move somewhere else in the country? Will all these people have their citizenship revoked? Will the IDF keep the Arabs of these areas enclosed? Rather than solve an issue, it may make it much worse.

I agree with the author that, "Gaza residents and the Palestinians in general had every opportunity to turn the area into a positive place to live. Wide-scale international aid and support were put at their disposal when the entire Gaza territory was handed over. Who prevented them from producing, developing and thriving?" The Palis. leaders, as usual, didn't care about the 'everyday' Palis.. If they had they would have started using the infrastructure left by Israel (like the greenhouses), along with the monies donated (US, UN, EU) to start their people on a path to a better life. Instead of taking this opportunity to build their people up, the leaders did the same old things & threw in a civil war for good measure. Giving the current Palis. leadership (which ones, btw?) more land will yield the same result: Palis. people treated like trash by their leaders; Palis. attacks on Israel.

How come nobody asks the PA Arabs to give up anything for peace. Won't they also benefit from peaceful coexistence? Why is it that only Israel is asked to give up something? What are we going to get from the Arabs in return? So after we forfeit the Temple Mount, parts of Jerusalem, the Galil, a portion of the Negev for a Gaza corridor, what are we going to have? There still won't be peace with the Arabs, so what's the point?

For those who forget, Gaza was GIVEN $20 million worth of hot houses. More than enough to start agricultural powerhouse. Jews there started with nothing. What did the Arabs in Gaza do? They ransacked the hot houses, not once but twice. Gazans DONT want to succeed. They just want to complain. Its a very good comparison of geography. The difference is the people dont want to succeed. They just want others to fail.

surely you know this?! It's to please the US and other 'interested' parties. Israel and the Palestinians are light years apart on 'everything' that is up for discussion and Olmert couldn't get anything through the Knesset. Right of return; passage between the WB and Gaza; Jerusalem; the 67 borders. Mazen is totally impotent and Hamas doesn't want peace! What is not clear here? Mike.

that is the beauty of whole thing. If the border is redrawn then Israeli - Arabs would simply be on the other side of the border. I imagine that if they want to keep Israeli citizenship then they will be able to. There are plenty of Israelis that don't live in Israel. - Mike

in getting rid of Arabs within our borders & it basically does not matter how this is accomplished. All gov't. policy should reflect this interest, whether by redrawing borders, withdrawal of citizenship, eliminating child-support, encouraging emigration, or any other means. The sad fact of the matter is that we are heading for a renewed period of conflict in which there will be greater participation of Israeli Arabs. They are too much of a security risk & it will be hard enough to control terrorism from Palestinian areas let alone from inside our borders by people who have freedom of movement to our population centers. People can BS all day & all night about human rights, racism, & the whole litany of theoretical pretty-sounding rhetoric that characterizes discussions on this subject but the bottom line is that our survival & security from attack is the ultimate human right. Will innocent Israeli Arabs suffer? Yes. Is this somehow injust, a collective punishement. Yes. But life is not fair & of all people, Jews should know this very well. My own feeling is that we owe no one an apology for acting in our own self-interest. I'm very sorry that we are forced by necessity to contemplate such action - it is indeed unfortunate. But it is necessary.

Again, the long term, realistic solution is to send the arabs back to their countries of origin, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, etc etc. It's not so hard, really. After all, they tossed our people out of their countries. Then there is one we have to argue with, no population worries etc.

...and maybe transferring illegal settlers to Gilad Sharon's Greek island

wake up! Neither pal faction will talk to one another much less to Israel!

sharon is obviously completely right.he forgot to add that belgium is about to be divided into the flemish and walloon nations. the palestinians in israel hate the state but stay on because they receive various forms of payment.