Reply #2: I thought this was your analysis at first.

[msmcghee]

But seeing as it's Haaretz, it seems that the left can no longer deny the reality - the only long term plan that has any hope of succeeding is for Hamas and Hizbullah and Syria and Iran to get over it.

As long as they think that Israel will pull punches to avoid criticism from the west - or is actually weak enough militarily that Israel can be attacked successfully - they won't be over it.

That's the reality for anyone to see - supported by 60 plus years of evidence that has never suggested any other possibility - despite the wishful thinking of many in the west and even substantial numbers in Israel.

The peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan were signed after humiliating defeats that were painful enough and politically expensive enough that the leaders of those countries decided that perhaps peaceful cooperation with Israel wasn't such a bad idea.

Now, perhaps with the realization that Israel is now the really pissed-off crazy guy on the block, and who knows what they'll do next time - I mean they just about destroyed Lebanon over a couple of kidnapped reservists (it was really much more than that) - I expect Israel's enemies to talk big for while - like all bullies - like Nasrallah and Almedinijad have been doing - and then maybe find some other way to rip off their people and keep them poor besides using Israel as the mean monster who is out to drink Arab baby's blood.