[dennisw]

This is just diplomat speak. Trying to throw a bone to the 'arab street.' All it will take is a few more bombings after this new dude is installed and the 'road map' will be dead.

Yup! Iraq changes everything. But at the same time there are many in State Department and elsewhere who are hoping to see Israel get a terrorist Palestinian state set up right next door.

Due to demographics any "peace" agreement and withdrawal from West Bank/Gaza will not help Israel. The Muslim imperative will always be to swamp and destroy Israel. I would be optimistic if Palestinian birthrates were the same as Israelis.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Whose fault is it that not enough Israeli's are being born? Is Hamas slipping birth control hormones in the Israeli water supply?

To populate is to govern.

Its all well and good to argue that most of the Palestinians are no more long term residents than most of the Jews, which is true. But the reality of the situtation needs to be faced.

[Nonstatist]

Due to demographics any "peace" agreement and withdrawal from West Bank/Gaza will not help Israel.

Maybe if it included a land swap as well; part of the Gallilee with its Arab villages for part of the uninhabited West Bank.

In any event, you point is well taken but reasonable alternatives to a withdrawl of some sort are scarce