Marty, these illegal outposts you're talking about are the only ones Olmert may try to remove.

There are many other illegal ones, which have established themselves so deep no one can remove them no more. But even those 2-3 caravan-outposts won't go easy. Ask ginzy, he'll tell you what mayhem these zealots plan for every attempt to remove as much as a stone from there.

But note that Barak is going to Annapolis. Oh well, of course he objected to the whole thing. yes he did. He also said he wasn't going there. Why should he go to a meeting he opposes? But then he sat in his living room for a while and gave it some more thought.

It may be brought up against me later on, he thought. What do I do now? If I don't go, they'll be all over me for not supporting peace. If i do go, the other side will attack me for caving in to the Palestinians.

I know! Eureka! I said I was against it, and now I'll say I'm for it. I said I wasn't going, and now, guess what, I'll go!

Now let's see who can use anything against me. I was for the Annapolis talks? No siree, I was not! I specifically said here, here, and also here that I was against it. I was against the Annapolis talks? Are you out of your mind? Haven't I gone to Annapolis to participate in the talks?

Tomorrow I'll ask my second half, my clone Bibi about this. I distinctly remember that he pulled a similar stunt. He was against the disengagement from Gaza, everyone knows this, right? Oh, but he voted FOR it in the government resolution! Brilliant!

Gosh, sometimes I get these horrifying nightmarish thoughts that Bibi might be even better than me in this shit, really. But then I look in the mirror and stroke my beautiful face a little, and it all goes away.

Tom Friedman makes the point in his column today that things seem to be resolving in Iraq without any "formal" resolution. It appears that the Israeli-Palestinian situation may be resolving in a similar manner. Don't expect the PA to formally accept denial of their precious "Right of Return". And don't expect Hamas to declare the end of hostilities. But, over time, on can expect things to calm down in the West Bank, leading to de facto partial Israeli withdrawal. Also, Marty correctly points out that Israel and the principal Arab nations are on the same side vis-a-vis Iran. Therefore, they have little or no incentive to isolate Israel even further.

Note to Avigayil:

I have no idea what mayhem may or may not be planned for the "outposts".  I think it is time for me to clarify my political views via my voting patterns.  I have never voted MafDa"L, I have never voted Ichud Le'Umi, let alone anything to the right of them.  I have never voted for **ANY** religious party, as a matter of principle (although sometimes I am tempted).  In my first election in Israel I voted HaDeRech HaShLiShi (The Third Way) z"l.  In the next two party elections, I voted for Sharansky's party (Yisra'el Ba'aliya).  In the last election I voted Likud.

I view myself as moderate right wing, and as a cynical political realist, albeit one tempered (somewhat)  by ideals and beliefs.  Before I came on aliya in '95, I was a moderate liberal on economic issues.  After having lived in Israel and experiencing first hand the waste, corruption, and ineptitude of a statist, welfare state dominated economy, I became more economically conservative and a fan of capitalisim; clearly I strongly support Bibi's economic policies (one of my good friends is a professor of social work at Bar Ilan and he and I love to argue;  needless to say he views himself as a die-hard European style socialist).

As far as Annapolis goes, if we're lucky it will just be a waste of time.

Hershel Ginsburg

(now where are my horns and tail...)

Barak figures he has less to lose at Annapolis than he did at Camp David.  If the talks fail, he can always say, "I saw it with my own eyes and I told you so."

But Ginzy, what do you say about the dismantling of these outposts (and I think that's not enough)?  You seem reasonable enough (those horns are quite the fashion statement!) but you haven't come down on either side.  Me, I think those people are nuts and a danger to Israel, and I think the IDF should let them stay in their outposts and give them total responsibility for self-protection.  Let's see how tough these fuckers are.

ginzy, I love you! I mean it. Wanna marry me?

I really got it all wrong and I apologize. I was sure you were (more) extreme right. Although having voted for Bibarak is pretty severe stuff, and you should consider getting yourself checked just to be on the safe side. I voted for the Barak bibarak in what was it, 1999? But then I asked a specialist to admit me into any mental hospital he'd deem fit.  I begged him. What was i thinking?

Don't lose the outfit altogether, ginzy. We may need it in the future.

Molly, he's against withdrawing if I'm not getting it wrong again. Sharansky is pretty far to the right, and so was the 3rd-way for whom he voted. They are against withdrawal. The only one who remains shrouded in heavy mists is the clone Bibi. He is for withdrawal, but then again he's against it. Just name it, he's for it. And against it.

Complex entities these. Deep. multifaceted.  

They wanna be prime minister. Whatever it takes to become the PM, that's their platform and agenda. I mean, can you even imagine what it feels like to become PM? These ecstatic moments... ohhh... alone in the bathroom, just you and your reflection? and then "No more headaches, woman! I'm your prime minister now. Just do it, eh?"

Yep, they're just hooked on the rush. Bibi doesn't remember half the time whose country he's the PM of, and Barak falls so deeply in love with himself, he can't stop retiring to the fancy PM bathroom, to  you know, play a little bit with his own self. It maybe the other way around actually. I can't tell them apart so well.

IDF does what the government tells it to do. We're not under martial law yet. But don't count on how tough they're not. They love to die for their god. It's a death culture they've developed over the years (like their neighbors), and they may regard it as an opportunity to show their infinite devotion to him.     Fortunately I'm not yet talking of all of them, but a few thousand is bad enough if you let them display a mass suicide show.

Anyway, Annapolis is castrated and sterilized and nothing can come out of it by definition. They took care to draw the lines so it won't fructify.

Nothing to worry about nothing to hope for.  

Let those of us who support Israel indeed hope that Annapolis comes and goes with a few innocuous speeches that no one remembers. This is no time to go to a conference and make hazardous concessions.

I supported Arik Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza because it made sense at the time – the Jewish presence in Gaza was small, it had always been a headache. I thought Israel should just draw up its bridge and go home and let the Palestinians in Gaza govern themselves. Life didn’t turn out to be that simple. Hamas and other terrorists took Israel’s withdrawal as a sign of weakness and began their frequent missile attacks. Security declined for Israelis, especially those who are fired at every day.

With this in mind why withdraw from Judea and Samaria? By the way: why refer to these settlements as illegal? The Jewish tie to this area is Biblical, it is not contrived nor an occupation. If Arabs may live in Israel, why can't Jews live in our ancestral homeland?

All in all, there is no reason to go to Annapolis and invite further pain for the Israeli population. It is time to negotiate minor rapprochements, but nothing more.