I hope the Israeli people understand this.

this article is written by a visionary, a realistic visionary who knows arabs, their intentions and the reality of their plans and thinking. what you see now eminating from gaza, whther it is under hamas or fateh will be exactly the situation that will eventually eminate from the west bank goven to palestinians for statehood. israel, in light of the lessons of past and present threats, needs defensible borders, not holocaust borders. the never again motto should become a reality not only in books, but on the ground as well. all the leftists and lovers of peace, ask yourselves this question...what will you do when the palestinians come for your throat? by that time, it would be way to late to make love overtures and speeches of co existence with the palestinians because your throats will be slashed. as a leftist peace lover, i have awakened way to late to learn from our past faulty judgements and political strategic error. no matter how much we would like to have a peaceful palestinian state side by side with ours, the reality on the ground and particularly the hamas rule in gaza, i am afraid that my leftism left me rather dissolusioned, to say the least. once the palestinians show an aim to govern through peace, show a modicom of national aspiration that does not involve terror against israel, show their intention to build rather than hate and kill and destroy themselves as well as us, i will then gladly move to the left again because i would be convinced of their peace intentions. not just taqiya or hudna. there is a lot of work the palestinians need to do inside their society, their religious beliefs, their messages in their educational books and their media programs as they now stand. what they are doing is not conducive to peace, not in the least. the who mental state of victimhood and revenge has to be changed and thrown out. they need to learn how to become a society, a cohesive society, root out terror, hateful media and ondoctrination of the young impressionable minds, develop a secular educational system that resembles honesty and facts rather than revisionist hateful propaganda and finally teach co existence rather than terror. if we see this as reality on the ground, israel has nothing to fear from a future palestinian state. when one bases their nationalistic aspiration for a state on hate, terrorism and revenge to restore some percieved wound to their honor, one is not seriously working for peace or working to become a prosperous working nation on the ground. the generational mental set as well as the education and media system, together with a willingness to accept a jewish state in the arab midst will be the first step, albeit a very long process. until then, no matter who, america, the eu, the arab moderates, want us to "create" a palestinian state, it would not become a reality considering the above.

I confess that when I was younger and more foolish, the notion of a (demilitarized) Palestine on the West Bank sounded reasonable. It's now clear it is not. The 1949 armistice lines are not defensible. Seriously, can one imagine tourists and business people flying in to a Ben Gurion ringed by Phalanx defense systems to protect against mortars and rockets? The only thing approaching a "natural boundary" is the Jordan River. Israel needs to retain control over the strategic heights on the West Bank as well as the Jordan Valley. This doesn't constitute a "land grab", but rather fulfillment of the League of Nations assignment of that territory to the Jewish Homeland. Arab Palestine is over the river. Nor is "splitting" Jerusalem any more reasonable. Based on past history, including the second intifada, Palestinian rule of eastern Jerusalem will render the city unlivable for Jews. Seen as an "achievement" by jihadists, a sign of Western surrender, it will likely only spark more terrorism worldwide.

Voters please take heed. This is serious, our very survival is at risk. Please recognise Heaven forbid, that the demise of Israel would only be the beginning,The rest of the west is next in line.'the little satan' and 'the big satan' Don't let politicians carry on with the Oslo disaster and what followed. We must make sure we keep all of the land. It's all ours and shame on us for buying into the Palestinian lie of reversing history. Remember Golda. 'There is no Palestinian people' The world doesn't care about us. We must stand up for our rights, if we want to survive anywhere in the world.

Having lived on the 12th floor of an apartment building in Or Yehuda, close to Lod and Ben Geruion Airport, with a view towards the coast I can tell you that those pics were taken with zoom or from a location much closer to Tel-Aviv than Or Yehuda. I would think someone with the audacity to mention the great father of international relations study's, Hans Morganthau, in his essay wouldn't be so careless as to publish such easily verifiable pictures as the ones in this articel. It is the height of academic dishonesty and demagougery at its lowest. We can have a reasonable debate wihout resorting to such crude tactics, and Morganthau would have agreed. And one should be mindful of using Morganthau at all to further a right-wing agenda since this man time and again rejected the argument for the Vietnam war as being in America's interests, repudidated the logic of MAD, and, controversially, seemed to show scant approval of the creation of Israel let alone America's intimate interest with us.

Following the author's logic, which I for one accept as a valid argument given past experience, what does this mean? I take it to mean that if we cannot leave the West Bank, then the West Bank must leave us .....

solution = vote bibi

... and your accompanying photographs explain in clearest terms what the Left in this country refuses to listen to. Thank you for this insightful article; I just hope that my fellow voters are also able to distinguish fact from delusion...

it is shocking to me the degree to which the right wing extremists in israel have taken over the naitonal consciousness. how can you make the argument that the west bank can't be returned because BG airport is too close to it? who chose to build the airport there? if bibi wins israel is doomed.

this question is 60 years late . ask the founders who came up with this crazy idea. even the northern bank of the euphrate river has hill ,so what do you do ..do you go beyound your Solomon boudaries .. LOL.......... it proves that you have been never serious about this Palestinian state since oslo . i wish the writer told us which party they should vote for soon.. all those years ,only now we are posing those kind of questions .??????????

The grads can hit all these places the author is conveying if we were to surrender the territories. When will your thick skull understand that the arabs don't want you period. Tel Aviv Jaffa and the W.B. are all the same to them. Thanks to the author for this common sense article. I would say to vote for Ichud Leumi Ketzelle.

If it is in sight it cannot be very far, right? What is the range of relatively crude Hamas rocket? 40 km? More? How about more advanced weapons? Why do you concentrate on the form rather than content? Too hard? To be fair there is no such thing as strategical depth anymore. Not even in case of Russia. Entire globe is reachable. Still, second state is a must for the sake of Israel. Either it will be peaceful contrary to popular belief or it will lose the land in a war started against Israel.

Dear Smith, The photographs of Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan , were taken close to the Palestinian villages RANTIS & A-LUBAN (near the water tower just east of the Jewish settlement of OFARIM), by Hagai Nativ --accompanied by yours truly. The shot of the Hadera Power station was taken near the Arab villages of SILAT-AL- DAHR (from the site of HOMESH the Jewish settlement, laid waste in Sharon's 2005 disengagement from Northern Samaria) by Air Force Colonel (res.) Yehoar Gal I find your comment about "using Morganthau at all to further a right-wing agenda" very peculiar : 1. First let me to refer you to his discussion of "Elements of National Power" in his seminal volume POLITICS AMONG NATIONS where you will discover that " Geography" is top of the list 2. Moreover why would you think this article has anything to do with "furthering a right- wing agenda"? Unless, of course, you hold the position that : (a) a cavalier disregard for ones civilian population, (b) a reckless readiness to expose them to dangers, which have already materialized elsewhere (!) (c) a very flat learning curve, are defining features that characterize the Left wing?? 3. As for the Vietnam War being classified as part of a "Right wing agenda" which Morgenthau opposed, thereby somehow proving that this disallows mentioning his identification and analysis of the elements of national power -- please run that by me again. For correct me if I wrong ; but wasn’t that the war which – as broad generalization at least regarding significant US involvement - was started under the Kennedy (Democratic) administration, escalated under the Johnson (Democratic)administration and terminated under the Nixon (Republican) administration. Isn't it the Republicans that are supposed "Right" and Democrats "Left"? Or am I missing something here?

Finally someone had the gut to write this with pictorial proof and to number 5 I have seen these views with my own eyes.

This stance is fully backed from the ideological point of wiew, which is the root-cause of the conflict.

I'm sorry Smith but you are a fool.Of course these pictures are taken using a zoom,so what.Do you mean to tell me that a qassam or Grad wouldn't be able to reach though from those locations.What absolutly assinine comments you make.You are absolutly blind to the true reality of the situation and should be laughed at as a fool.

A vote for Netanyahu is a vote supporting the withdraw from Yesha (Judea and Samaria). Do not forget that he gave Hevron to the palestinian authority and supported the expulsion of our poor brothers and sisters in Gush Katif. He certainly will give away Yesha and that is simply an insane thing to do. When will he and others who support this idea finally wake up and see that arabs/moslems hate us Jews. They always have and they aqlways will. The best thing we can do to ensure our survival is do what we were put here to do and be strong and overly aggressive with our enemies. Do whatever we have to do, ourselves, because we are the ones who have to live with the consequences of allowing our enemies to get stronger, noone else. Ichud Leumi (National Union) is the only Zionist party who truly knows that this land is ours and will not only never give any of it to our enemies, they will chase and deal with our enemies as required. Liberman is not a zionist. He just talks tough. He hasn't done anything apart from agree to give half of Jerusalem to the arabs (Chas V'Chalilah) and to also give them the Yesha,as does Avodah (Labour/Ehud Barak). These are NOT zionist policies. Anyone who proclaims to be a zionist and/or religious can only vote for Ichud Leumi. Shas is not an option as they will also give away the Yesha and did nothing when Sharon expuled the communities of Gush Katif. Please my brothers and sisters, use your head. We have to do what is right for us. We have to ensure our survival. We have to not only keep ALL our land, we also have to strengthen it and become so powerful that our enemies will shake in their boots at the mere thought of attacking us in any way. I know these are strong words but it has to be done. We can no longer try and appease America and Europe as their interests are not our interests. They are neverhappy and only make demands on us, never on our enemies. The PA has not fulfilled ONE of their obligations according to the so-called road map, not one, and they admit to firing mortars/rockets on Israel from Gaza this week. This is the action of moderates! If this is moderate then so was Operation Cast Lead. Maybe next time we deal with our enemies we will have to be severe. Remember Likud, Avodah, Israel Beiteinu, Meretz, Beit Yehudi are a strict no-no. Ichud Leumi is the onlysensible and honest choice. A zionist party who cares, who's honest, and committed to serving and strengtheningthe state of Israel.

... what these pictures intend to show is how vulnerable we will be with a Palestinian state in the "West Bank". The actual view is meaningless because these pictures successfully demonstrate how handing over the "West Bank" will expose Gush Dan and other areas to rocket fire. How do you like the situation in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Sderot and Beer Sheva? Will reality only hit you when you're sitting in Kapa Joe on Dizengoff, latte in hand, and you suddenly find yourself with only 30 seconds or so to find a safe room? WAKE UP!!!!!

Labor and Kadima promise that they will turn over all of Judea and Samaria to the Arabs, in effect making sure that Dr. Sherman's nightmare will come true. Everyone saw how Gaza was used as a base to attack the south and how helpless Israel was. Despite this, Labor and Kadima are still expected to get about 30% of the Knesset. Can someone explain how this is possible?

Thank you, Martin, and thank G-d for this bit of sanity and common sense that seems to escape the slumbering masses.

The airport was built built shortly after the 48 war, and there was not much choice of where to put it. Moving it north to Haifa put it in range of syrian rockets from the Golan, moving it to the south put it within range of Egyptian controlled-Gaza, or the Sinai, or egypt-propper accross Aqaba, not to mention that the Area was a desert. Moving it slightly north or south, besides bringing it closer to the Syrians or Egyptians, also put it nearer to the West Bank, which, if you've ever seen it, reaches a lot further west north and south of Jerusalem than directly to the west of it where Tel-Aviv is. That still put the airport, and the rest of Israel's key infrastructure, way too close to Jordanian positions on the West Bank, but was the safest available point, and Jerusalem would be there to absorb the first shock of an attack (as it did in 67). That's the whole point of this article; there is no point in green-line Israel where missles from the West bank cannot reach

After the "performance" of Hamas et. al. in the Gaza Strip (i.e. their continuous rocket attacks and their inability to live in peace with their neighbors), it has become quite obvious that a future palestinian state would need to remain demilitarized somehow. The only question is: how can this be enforced... and by whom? It wasn't possible in tightly controlled Gaza which should have been easily border-controlled (but wasn't), how much more difficult would it be in a real independent state with much longer and convoluted borders? And even if the impossible happened, and a demilitarized and peaceful Palestine was created and got universal approval and recognition, how long until a Hezbollah-like militia would form within it (just as it formed and grew in Lebanon up to the point of nearly taking over their government) with not-so-peaceful intentions towards Israel? How long until weapons start flooding in and the first rockets and worse being used? I'm afraid that after their Hamas episode (which they elected on their own free will, knowing full well what it means), Palestinians have effectively reduced the likelihood of getting their own state to nearly zero... at least for a VERY, VERY long time. Their dream of statehood in near future is probably over by now, even though nobody will have the courage to admit it publicly. Maybe in a few decades, with a new generation that hasn't been poisoned by the propaganda venom of hatred and indoctrination and that hasn't experienced the hardships of occupation (checkpoints everywhere etc.), maybe then, they would be ready for an independent state. But right now, given all circumstances and all players in the region, they have less chance than a snowball in hell to reach statehood.

90% of the West Bank, 100% of Gaza, a good portion of the Southern Lebanon and 20% of Israel while the Jews barely own 80% of Israel which sits on 0.1% of the Middle Eastern landmass. So, clearly the Arabs have many advantages over the Jews and yet they insatiable trying to extract more and more and more. If the Jews are so dumb to give it to them then the Jews must live with the consequences.

Quote :“ You (i.e. the voter) might want to inquire whether it presents a convincing program to contend with the dangers that might arise from the Geographic Imperative – other than simply hoping that they won't materialize.” THIS means that the Israeli voters should vote ONLY on those parties that will keep Judea & Samaria (nowadays known as the West Bank) under Israeli rule. BTW West Bank Arabs who doesn’t want to live under Israeli rule should be asked kindly to leave the West Bank -- and go to their Homeland called the Kingdom of Jordan, which was especially created for them in May 1946. ONLY those Arabs who want to live peacefully, side by side with Jews, in the West Bank -- can remain in the West Bank. BTW to “simply hope” is NOT a workable option. To act based on “hope” borders at stupidity.

West Bank......you need to take a good portion of your city underground from rocket fire. Programs to build underground facilities would be almost imperative to keep people safe and businesses open. You would need to draw up plans to strike back at the West Bank cities with force, on a timetable that destroys their infrastructure periodically. The damage would have to be substantial and require substantial investment to rebuild. Plans need be made ot attack countries infrastructures, that support these terrorist entities, like Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. You will need to crash their computer systems, and commit sabotage to their countries facilities as well. Israel will have to be at a constant state of war with these areas. The Arabs have no intention of stopping the fighting. They are coercing the smucks in the United States and Europe into giving them a beach head, to lauch an all out war against Israel. Therefore....you must change your doctrine and planning to support such a war. There is no peace with these people. This is a fairy tale inspired by a few misguided individuals, who dream about acceptance, acceptance that will never be found. Building a civilization underground......protected from the rocket fire....might be the only plausable solution, to shut up the Western Leaders about the poor plight of a country full of terrorists and terrorist supporters.

and your argument is that Israel should not build anywhere close to the Green line? That's a new one.