As a consequence the conventional wisdom of the foreign policy elites and the liberals is rising to the top again. There is no stupid idea of CW more dear to their hearts than screwing over Israel. The naive “realists”, the dim-bulb lefties, the antisemites, and the Metternich wannabes all think that if we just screwed over Israel enough the Muslims would love us. As Bernard Wooley put it in one of the episodes of “Yes, Prime Minister,” it’s not just the cream that rises to the top. In reality we would just receive an even bigger dose of hatred and contempt for our unreliability and for stabbing a friend in the back.

Note that a lot of the same people want us to do the same kind of dishonorable betrayal to the Iraqis. Bernard Lewis has commented that America is a treacherous frie nd and a weak enemy (the CW is that wise foreign policy is hurting your friends and helping your enemies). We must snap out of this foolishness.

A) Bush has proposed the right of return specifically involving compensation as opposed to swarms of refugees. This is exactly how Israelis want this problem solved.

B) Bush specifically cited outposts as having to go, while skipping right over Olmert’s direct comments stating construction in major settlement blocks will continue, they were standing next to each other at the time in front of the world press.

C) He didn’t visit Arafat’s grave, never invited him to the White House, yet spent the morning at Yad Vashem, further Israel itself recognized Abbas as a negotiating partner, Bush is just following up so the error is ours, not his.

Yes, Bush is pushing for a solution via a PA State, but the facts remain that Olmert was about to withdraw unilaterally and create a defacto PA state, Bush has solidified MUCH more favorable terms for Israel than anyone anywhere else has been suggesting.

Under his vision, Jerusalem will be largely united, major settlement blocks will remain, refugees will be compensated by the INTL community, and the Arab world must normalize relations with Israel.

The truth of the matter is that the palestinians were, do, and will continually try to kill us & destroy us – Bush has presented much more favorable terms than Europe or other US initiatives by far and we in Israel are out of patience with the Palestinians, don’t want them in our country and are sick of dealing with them.

When we withdrew from Gaza, we paid the bills, and stripped all our population from there. The moves Bush proposes entail saving Israel billions of dollars, saving Israel from a demographic nightmare of supporting a people that are beyond useless in every way – a perpetual welfare people now to be cared for by someone else. The terrorism already exists now, and Israel is getting rid of the 1.5 million Palestinians no matter what.

I think you have misread the situation. Israel’s populace doesn’t want the Palestinians in our country any longer nor the responsibility for them. We are already seeking a way out, Bush has paved the best road possible and with a wink basically said we can squeeze as we please, the onus is on them, and the concessions will be theirs.

May I remind that the rest of the planet expects us to pull back fully, destroy all settlements, remove nearly 300,000 people in established communities, hand back half Jerusalem, the list goes on & on. Bush’s way is radically different. It’s way more favorbale than Clinton’s arm twisting.

Even if we just dump the Palestinians, and wipe the international pressure by sealing a deal, and get even one or two Arab countries to normalize relations we are already WAY ahead than we would have been with a unilateral move which would be coming if not next year, than within 3.