First, they need the settler faction for their majority. Second, strange as it may seem, if Sharon actually were moving in that direction, it seems to me that he would share Rabin's fate, i.l. be assasinated by fanatics.

"The problem from the Palestinian perspective is how would a Palestinian government be able to supress the overriding hatered of Isreal that runs deep within the new Nation's populace.

If the Palestinians can't get that under control, then they will have constant civil war, and even worse: a coup that immediatly declares all-out war on Isreal (a war in which that the new Palestinian nation would be completely destroyed.)"

My guess is that given any kind of hope for the future, the Palestinians would pursue that. But guesses are not a good basis for security - I have thought for a long time that a massive UN deployment to the West Bank and Gaza is the only way out of this, but the current government of Israel, along with the W. Bush administration, are the sole governments consistently blocking this.

"And then there is the issue of other nation's claims to the occupied terrirories. Who will stop Syria from Annexing the Palistinian lands once Isreal gives them independence?"

Not likely - who would want the mess? Wouldn't those governements rather spend their money on improving their peoples welfare than on weapons systems? If they had the option, woudl their people not insist upon it?

"Its not a simple problem that can be solved by simply giving the Palestinians a "homeland"."

No, it won't be simple, but yes, there will have to be a Palestinian homeland as part of the solution.

Let's take a look at another possible outcome: the application of sanctions as were applied to South Africa. That's what Israel's Supreme Court is warning about as regards the present course of the security fence. While the US frustrated earlier attempts at sanctions, that economic ability is ending. The US could circumvent sanctions for a while, but in this global community, at some point that ability would end.

Of course, the general thinking seems to be that only nations can develop WMD. This is not true, private groups could/can do it, and the chances are good that while sanctions were being imposed, one of them would/will.

"One thing going in favor of peace in the region: there won't be an Iraqi dictator hell bent on infuencing the future of Isreal/Palestine relations."

One problem with that is that as long as there is no peace in the region, the probability of another Iraqi anti-Israeli leader emerging can be set at 1.

"Scott Evil"
ep - real name