1. BobW said:

Maybe only an Israeli or maybe only editorial oversight by al Haaretz allows the printing of "Martin Indyk...raised the idea of establishing an American trusteeship regime in the areas of the Palestinian Authority,...".

Charles DeGaulle addressed this type of matter decades prior. At some point Martin Indyk's bloodletting must be restricted - even if only to discredit him.

Next comes the name Bill Kristol. We read "Israelis who are trying to promote a role for NATO in the region,..". For those not content with the work product and results of Indyk and Kristol, may I recommend the quarter century old book "The World After Oil" by Bruce Nussbaum. Nussbaum covered international finance as Associate Editor of Business Week. Israel is gearing up to mesh with a global environment that's changing. Change is unknown to some Israelis and some of their supporters.

Blame sharing is easy when al Haaretz gives a rent-free rostrum to Efraim Halevy. Israel was NOT "taken totally by surprise when President Bush decided to adopt the road map..". Halevy is trying to portray Israel as a unified nation with a national identity, positioned against hostile, unstable countries. Israel's political, and by extension, economic, problems, are internal.

Does =Israel= or certain subsections of Israel give "Palestinians [sic] a political locus standi in Jerusalem."? What Halevy is doing is introducing Jerusalem as an international city. Any Arab claims to Jerusalem will be eclipsed by European based claims. The distillate is an internationalized Jerusalem with Israel's capital as Tel Aviv.

Believing America's concepts of democracy would mesh in Indonesia, China or Egypt, requires acceptance in a belief in perpetual political volatility. This is Israel's environment.

What does Thomas Friedman have to do with problem resolution ?

Kol tuv,
BobW