Carol C--of a way back post too---regarding that how can one think that the Palestinians--once they have a state--would be in any position to push Israel out. Think back to 1948---they are not alone. Let us face it---the neighborhood ain't too friendly as it is said.

Back in 1948, Israel clearly had the upper hand, and the superior forces. That's why they ended up with most of the land, and most of the refugees were Palestinians. Add to that, the fact that Israel and Jordan had a secret agreement to prevent the Palestinians from getting their own state, and in which Jordan agreed to (and did) keep the fighting mostly in the areas that were given to the Palestinians in the partition plan. So even if we use 1948 as our point of comparison, Israel still holds most of the cards, and is the most unassailable. Plus, they're the only ones in the neighborhood with nuclear weapons.

As to you other comment re: stopping retaliation (I paraphrase). Think about it. What if we did not respond to Pearl Harbor, what if Britain did not respond to The Blitz, and so on. It is a rhetorical query.

Are you saying that everyone in the world, except the Palestinians has a right to defend themselves? Do you even regard Palestinians as human beings?

As to Israel's good will or not---I was reminded in a note that when Egypt signed the peace agreement (Sadat) and recognized the state Israel gave back the entire Sinai---AND the valuable OIL fields. So--good will--good politics and hopes for the future--dashed sadly because, as always, the Palestinians are not welcome by their own brethren.

So why won't they keep any of their promises to the Palestinians? Arafat signed a peace agreement and recognised the State of Israel. The only response from Israel was to build more settlements. But even more important than that, why won't they end the occupation? From the things I'm seeing people post to this thread, my guess is that nobody wants to give up their idea of "Greater Israel". So if that's the case, it really has nothing to do with "security" and everything to do with getting more land for Israel.