To Arnie
Wll I think you are wrong in your prediction that Israel will soon sign a peace treaty with the Palestinians.

It is far more likely that Israel will continue to allow Zionist armed paramilitary and settler groups to build more and more fortified townships on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank,which Mudcat users will recall is not,and has never been,a part of Israel.

Israel ,which is under the control of a right wing hawkish government seems intent on carving up the West Bank into many small "bantustans" ringed by Israeli military forces ,armed checkpoints and with movement between these bantustans strictly controlled and regulated.And of course the huge Apartheid Wall which extends for hundreds of miles through Palestinian land cutting off Palestinian farmers from their fields and orchards and villages from their hinterlands ,is part of this programme of Israeli control of the Palestinian people and the theft of their land.

Gaza and Lebanon seem to be the rock on which the Israeli military is blunting itself.The Israeli military took a beating two summers agoin Lebanon and were outthought and outfought by the Guerillas led by Hezbollah.Likewise in Gaza ,despite the illegal and barbaric sustained attacks on its civilian population the Israeli military has yet to make Hamas submit.

In Northern Ireland the trial is about to start of anti war campaigners who closed the arms manufacturer ,Raytheon, for a day during the Israeli invasion.They occupied their Derry office in protest at the supplying of military equipment to Israel by Raytheon.
I would imagine that world wide support for the Palestinian cause is helping to sustain morale in both Gaza and on the West Bank.
albert