Marwan Barghouti will be released shortly

He will be President.

He will unite factions

There will be a working post -Annapolis conference in Moscow this year. This will not be a photo op. This will be a serious stuff.

Simple, get all the Arab/Muslims and other hate mongers to try building something positive instead of spewing hate. As more articles are finally showing, using Nazi like brain-washing, fakes like the Protocols, television shows glorifying maryters, etc, etc, etc, and they'll raise another generation to hate.

Israel leaves Gaza, two choices. Start building a state, create the infra-structure of a state, use the resources left behind to create more jobs, for more farming, etc. Or use the resources to build rockets to send into Israel, wreck the resources left behind, and then seek pity against the absent "occupiers".
We know which course was taken, and as long as that mind-set exists, there can be no peace and no change.

And George, from 1948 to 1967, when Jerusalem was in Arab hands, Jews couldn't go there, Jewish sites were desecrated. After '67, all people have access because the Jews have control and maintain security.

Hey Jand, that's an awfully ethno-centric view you have there. Allow me to paraphrase "Palestinian internal politics are entirely dominated my what America does." I don't agree. I think that the Palestinians have free will. I think that if they wanted a peaceful government, they would have voted for one. Most Palestinians, for reasons real and imagined, want to see Israel destroyed more than they want anything else. In order to do that, they must use violence (because the Israelis rudely refuse to be destroyed without violence). So they chose the most violent political movement available to lead them. It's internal logic, buddy, has nothing to do with how much you personally loathe Dick Cheney and Gearge Bush. You need to expand your mind and remove the cultural blinkers that prevent you from understanding other cultures.

If Hamas has been trying to make peace with Israel, they have been using a very counter intuitive method by kidnapping and killing random Israeli soldiers, firing rockets to mutilate or kill arbitrary civilians, and indoctrinating their children to hate Jews. Hamas hasn't even accepted one of the three conditions required to get international aid. I fail to see how any of these actions advances the cause of peace or benefit the Palestinian people. Maybe this sort of behavior seems politically necessary, but it runs an incredible risk of a catastrophe for the Palestinians when one too many Israelis are killed and Israel launches an unrestricted war against Hamas.

It's pretty clear now that Israel and a succession of compliant US governments are only interested in Henry Kissinger's catch-phrase of the 1970s, which was "autonomy". Even the most militant members of Hamas offered Israel an armistice at the beginning of 2006 if Israel would agree to pull back to the 1967 borders. That would leave open the possibility of Jerusalem being an international city as per the original UN partition of Palestine which, speaking as a moderate, non-evangelical Christian, would not offend me one bit. What would be so terrible to enter into negotiations to discuss how such a thing might be done and what security considerations Hamas would have offered in return? Greece and Turkey as well as North and South Korea have existed with such relationships, which in time changed into true peace. But I think the author is right that it's too late now because the Israelis now think that they can get more. However, when the US goes bankrupt in about 10 years and Israel can no longer bleed the US Treasury dry, our Chinese and Indian creditors may have their own ideas of how to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And at that point, with US military power greatly diminished and Israel's foreign aid dollars vanished, Israel may have wished they had done a deal with Hamas in 2006.

So Sami, what I hear you saying is that there is no hope for Hamas? We can't make peace with them? They all have to be killed before we will have peace?

Wow, I'm glad our leaders don't agree with you. Personally, I think there is always hope for everyone. Or we should at least pretend that everyone can be salvaged in some way. If I were President and thought like you do, my only logical course of action toward peace would be to order my troops to go to Gaza and kill everyone who resists.

Maybe that's why President Bush hasn't taken steps toward peace in Palestine/Israel. Maybe he thinks like you and he agrees that the only viable path toward peace is through an extermination campaign. And that's not the sort of thing Americans do. So if anyone is going to play a key role in saving the peace process, it will have to be a government willing to conduct an extermination campaign. Perhaps Sudan will volunteer for that.

oerfict as always

This is a really good article coming out of Damascus- unfortunately this is why the article is lacking, He does not mention the spoiler position of his president Assad in all this. The one supporting Hizbulla and Hamas instead of the PLO. The country that did not sign a peace accord when Sadat did and then there could have been a peace. At least the elder Assad could have visited Israel when Arafat reconised Israel.

This is a really good article coming out of Damascus- unfortunately this is why the article is lacking, He does not mention the spoiler position of his president Assad in all this. The one supporting Hizbulla and Hamas instead of the PLO. The country that did not sign a peace accord when Sadat did and then there could have been a peace. At least the elder Assad could have visited Israel when Arafat reconised Israel.

this is a very cogent and coherent analysis of the hamas role and position...even though i disagree with the author's perspective and sympathies, this is the sort of commentary that merits serious thought by the international community - even if it does not, in any meaningful way, suggest diplomatic interventions or approaches.... the one unspoken aspect of this comment that, perhaps, its author might wish to address is how the hamas dynamic might change or evolve if other regional states - egypt? iran? - choose to offer more open support...what do israel & the US and, ahem, even the EU do then...?

Earl Prohofsky writes: "The US street seems to be willing to pick a peace candidate to get us out of our mess who doesn't have medals." Most non-Americans laugh at that naive statement. Unless you mean it from some sort of Orwellian War is Peace POV.

George W Bush has done more harm to America and the world than any one person in my lifetime. George W Bush is the only reason Hamas was elected at all to rule Gaza. Look back and see how George W Bush introduced himself into the elections over the objections of the legitimate government of the Palestinian people!! George W Bush should be sent to the Hague for all the harm he has done to the world in the name of Dick Cheney and his war on terror.

How can there be peace when no one is in charge?

Amir Oren writes in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz that "There is no central authority in Israel, only separate feudal holdings headed by self-appointed barons. Every minister or chief is an oligarch."

We also face the spectacle of the Israel Lobby trying to dictate to Israel the terms of any peace agreement with the Palestinians. Don't compromise on Jerusalem, and we don't care what the Israelis think.

Should some responsible Israeli official try to strike a deal with Hamas, we can rest assured that some other part of the Israeli gov't, perhaps a Shas minister, or AIPAC, will try to torpedo it. They've already said they'll try, and they have a track record of success.

It may be time for the US to pressure Israel to end its proportional representation system, which guarantees fringe parties like Shas representation out of proportion to its numbers. Maybe then we'll find someone in charge, someone who can actually make something happen.

Interestingly, the LA Times recently ran a story making the same point about Iran. Supreme Leader Khameinie gives orders to people like Ahmadinejad; he smiles, nods his head, and then goes on his merry way as if nothing had happened. Is there something in water in the area that prevents forming a real gov't?

I found your article very interesting and convincing. The question it leaves in my mind is what is so different about the Palestinian street. The US street seems to be willing to pick a peace candidate to get us out of our mess who doesn't have medals. The experience of the losses in Iraq seems to be enough to cause a desire for change. The dislocation and suffering of the US street is infinitely less than that of the Palestinians. Is the Palestinian street so focused only on military success that that is the principle determining factor. If so that seems unique, why is that? If the Palestinian street is still so bent on medals there really is no hope.