"...with some signals emerging that the Hamas-led Palestinian government could indeed accept Israel's existence..."

I don't know what universe the writer is living in, but it is not ours. When the Hamas-led government calls the last homicide bomber "a justified use of violence," Israel simply needs to make its own decisions about where its borders will be and take steps to make that happen. Hamas and Iran both call for the elimination of Israel and insist that "Palestine's" western border is the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel will make its own decisions on how to defend itself, much like the United States and every other country on earth.

Why is it that only Israel must give back land that it won in a war? Why hasn't the U.S. been required to give back California? What's that I hear--because we won it fair and square? What's that I hear--because countries that win wars don't ever have to give up the land they conquer? Is it just the Jews who have to?

Dan Robbins

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"...with some signals emerging that the Hamas-led Palestinian government could indeed accept Israel's existence..."

I don't know what universe the writer is living in, but it is not ours. When the Hamas-led government calls the last homicide bomber "a justified use of violence," Israel simply needs to make its own decisions about where its borders will be and take steps to make that happen. Hamas and Iran both call for the elimination of Israel and insist that "Palestine's" western border is the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel will make its own decisions on how to defend itself, much like the United States and every other country on earth.

Why is it that only Israel must give back land that it won in a war? Why hasn't the U.S. been required to give back California? What's that I hear--because we won it fair and square? What's that I hear--because countries that win wars don't ever have to give up the land they conquer? Is it just the Jews who have to?

Dan Robbins

Mr. Tolan seems to believe that Hamas is ready to become a partner in the negotiations. If that is true, which I myself believe is extremely doubtful at this point, it is precisely because of the cutoff of funding as well as the threat of the convergence plan and the realities that it would impose. If those two levers fail to bring the Palestinians to the bargaining table then perhaps it should be admitted that Olmert was right all along. If of course they do decide to negotiate, then Olmert's strategy is similarly vindicated. The course that can no longer be supported is a continution of the occupation in its current form.

After all the Palis are great neighbors. Got such a nice warm feeling from them. Oh sorry that was the blood of another suicide bomb victim. Oops, the victim was another Pali. Great tactics, eh?

"Convergence would also strike a blow to the Palestinian dream of having East Jerusalem, including crucial Muslim holy sites, as the capital of their state. While returning parts of East Jerusalem to Arab ownership, a fixed border would divide neighborhoods and families, and the Jewish state would retain control over the Old City. These are red lines for both Palestinians and Muslims worldwide." (my emphasis)

As well as for Jews. What Jew would allow the Palestinians to resume their destruction of Jewish Jerusalem that was interrupted in 1967 (and continues at the Temple Mount, under the Waqf)? There is no chance for peace in our lifetimes, nor our children's lifetimes, without a miraclous intervention. Give up hope. The Israelis have, which is why there is the unilateral strategy.

Let's look back and see what country was it that tried locking up millions of people based on their race into small area with few resources without any hope for a government based on equality and liberty.

Oh yes South Africa - that went well.

Very successful. Something to be copied for sure.

The companies that manufactured barbed wire were very successful. Everything else was kind of iffy though - better luck this time.

I$rael couldn't be half the monster nation it has been without endless, bottomless US monetary support. Why are we facilitating these creeps..? GOD WILL NOT STRIKE DOWN THE USA IF WE STOP FUNDING I$RAEL.

Too bad the Palestinians don't want to participate in meaningful dialogue about the peace process, and thus don't get to help decide their own future (again).

So after years of blaming Israel for their own failed policies, we can now expect them to blame Israel for acting on it's own, even though Israel would prefer a negotiated settlement. Use the analogy of a fence between your house and your neighbors. If you can't even get them to talk to you about the property line, eventually you'll just build a dividing line on your own. What would you do?

Perhaps some day there will be a mature 'other side' with which Israel can talk. In the meantime Israel will build it's own security, while the Palestinians descend into civil war, proving that they can't even hold their own internal peace talks, let alone talks that would decide an international border.

The phrase "... the convergence plan would essentially kill the decades-old Palestinian dream of self-determination" should read: "... the convergence plan would essentially kill the decades-old Palestinian dream of driving every last Jew into the sea." We regret the error.

The Israelis display far more patience than Americans would in dealing with the same kind of intransigence displayed by the Palestinians. I think the U.S. governemnt would have gone into all the Palestinian areas and literally rooted out all possible opposition. If you doubt me, just look at what this country did to the Native Americans. Eighty five per ecnt of the indiginous population of the Americans was wiped out by the Europeans who settled here. Witness, also, American actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Israelis have been patient and measured dealing with a situation which most of us would find unbearable.

I personally feel that Israel should create a unilateral solution to their conflicts with the Palestinians. I don't think it's possible to negotiate with the Palestinians because their culture has become so decimated by their years of conflict with Israel that many- if not most- of them embrace death over cooperation. They would rather sacrifice their sons and their daughters than allow Israel to stand. It is a shame. How much better for everyone if their main interest was in creating a good life for themselves, in peace with their neighbors, but I just don't see it.

Sure, the Palestinians should have their own state. I think it should be one sizable single chunk of land. I don't think it should include Jerusalem. Why? Because, as important as the Temple Mount is to the Muslims, it isn't their first or their second most sacred site. It is number three on their list. From what I understand, Mohammed never lived or preached there. He was just dinvinely transported there upon his death so that his soul could ascend into heaven upon the site of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in all of Judaism. The only temples that ever existed in Judaism existed in Jurasalem at the Temple Mount. There were no auxilliary temples. There were no synagogues. Just The Temple, which was destroyed twice. Centuries later, a mosque was built on that site. But it first belonged to, and was most sacred to, the Jews. People shouldn't forget this.

This is huge and messy conflict, but I think sometimes people forget that the Palestinians do have somewhere else to go. They have the entire Middle East, where they are often welcome to settle. I have seen a map of the world which showed all the Islmaic states marked in red. Israel is just one tiny dot in a vast Islamic sea. Muslims are the second most populous religious group in the world, and they are expanding. There are many Muslim countries, many safe places for Muslims to live. The Jews have only the Israel.

It is easy to dismiss the realities of World War II as being irreelevant now, but they so dearly matter. During World Ware II, half the Jews in the world were annihilated. Ninety eight per cent of all european Jewry were systematically exterminated while the world averted their eyes. Safe countries like the United States and England refused to allow Jewish refugees into their borders. European Jews were penned in and slaughtered. Jews need Israel in a way that Palestinians don't. Jews need a safe haven. Israel is the only country in the world which guarantees Jews asylum. Without a strong secure Israel, Jews of the world can never be sure that the Holocaust won't happen again. Yes, it's become an old story now. But it's one we can not ever afford to forget.