I could summarize this article as "if those damn Jews would just move back to the 1967 borders, then we might have peace", but that would not really do justice to the naivety shown in this article. What a wonderful group of people to have met too on your trip - Assad, Assad's Lebanese puppet and Hamas - up for the higher bidder now - hear that Syria and Iran? Such a jolly group of imminently reasonable people to sit down and chew the fat over a warm cup of coffee!

Seriously, diplomacy is always useful to keep contact with folks like these, but one would be a fool not to insure that it is at the end of a 10 foot pole. I am certain that individuals like Mr. Keeley feel that if we just keep taking (like we have for 50 years now) that something would be accomplished. But in the Middle East, as happens in the rest of the world, actions tend to speak louder than words and trust is a commodity that is in precious short supply. Smoke and mirrors pronouncements such as “They don't recognize Israel as it exists” just show the level of denial of some people are willing to go to avoid the nasty fact that none of the groups named in the article even think Israel should exist – and that includes the Jewish side of the population in particular.

So, go to an international conference, say all the right words, sell more snake oil and please stay away from the real area where decisions are made. Solutions like this are the reason this problem will never get solved, because they do not recognize the motivations and goals of the participants. Because frankly, they are nasty, brutish and up to now (thank goodness) not short.

I found Kathleen Haley's article basic diplomacy 101. I don't claim to know much about the entire Arab world but I do know first hand about the Palestinians and the Israelis. That we even have to talk about talking to whomsoever the Palestinians elected shows just how afraid or one could say unimaginative are the Israeli leaders.

You meet the 'enemy' and in that gesture the enemy seems so different than imagined. If Hamas was elected and if they were "eager to meet Americans" I surmise that unless they are humiliated, with this new power will come new relations to Israel, if Israel only allows it.

I remember when it was against Israeli law to talk to the PLO. Then how Yasser Arafat, a man who was a poor leader, was demonized by Sharon as if Arafat were a Nazi (as was said) and not just a very odd guy. Now the Hamas has won this election because they are seen as less corrupt and more caring about their own people. How do we NOT respect that as a starting point for talks.

The one thing we now all should know is that the politics of humiliation must be replaced by the politics of diplomacy. Israeli lovers will instantly balk at this. But are we really willing, because of prejudice and cries of terrorists, going to miss the next decade. As a wise man said: 'What Israel thinks is in her best interests often is not.' I love Israel maybe more than most here at Salon. But I also know that enlightened self-interest should dictate a rapprochement with any Palestinian leaders.

Under our occupation, few Israelis meet Palestinians and vice versa. Under occupation, both sides were terrorizing the other. Under Sharon, traveling to the West Bank or Gaza was outlawed. The image of Hamas and the reality are not written in the past tense but need a future tense. How to achieve that without talking to each other?

Yes, Hamas was full of terrorist actions, but may I say without being branded, that Israel did her fair share of stalling and violence against the Palestinians as well. This pro-Israel stance does no favors to the many Israelis who lose their kids, their husbands. That such a tiny area has been the focus of so many great minds and has not improved is a sign that we have never stepped up and talked openly and tried to trust, which goes both ways. You call Hamas the terrorists, the Palestinians call Israel the terrorist state, this is a sane way to begin dialogue? The only way to peace, and surely it should be achievable, since Israel/Palestine is NOT Iraq, but is full of many who once they have power really want a peace accord. Israel is the bully more often than not. "We have no parters for peace" is a common refrain, and shows the lack of wilingness to get this nightmare over with. If ever the Israeli leaders can drop the rhetoric and brave dialogue, there would be hope. Hamas is less the issue than Israeli stonewalling. But who is listening. Raving chauvanists are the problem and not only on Palestinian side.

If I had big money I would bet that if Israel talks to the Hamas the Hamas will transform. It's elementary; it's politically obvious; it's Israel course 101.

It's tragic how the most sensible of positions - and, I dare say, even the truth - can sound almost banal after decades of endless obfuscation and intractable conflict.

I remember the Saudi proposal and I never quite understood why the Israelis and Americans were so quick to dismiss it. It would seem at first glance that such a proposal would be a gift to the peace-loving Israeli government (as often depicted), but then they are usually deathly afraid of any sort of just deal other than one on their own terms.

I think Hamas was the government Likud wanted, as unilateralism is best justified by declaring the other side a terrorist and therefore unnegotiable with. When Arafat was alive, they did all they could to marginalize the PA. I especially remember the targeting and destruction of PA security forces for every attack, regardless of perpetrator, until there was hardly any security force left.

All this doesn't mean that Israeli government will never talk to Hamas, and I think it all boils down to Iraq and Iran. If circumstances in Iraq stabilizes in favor of Iran (unlikely as it will probably be followed by an all-out civil war and a secession of Kurdistan), or if the Iranian nuke becomes inevitable, you will probably see Israel at the negotiating table, and propitiously just before the occurence of the conditions.

Though in the short term, they are most likely to continue their security sweeps, withering away Hamas's hold to the truce, accredit all reprisals to Hamas and then decimate them a la Palestinian Authority.