David Makovsky (born June 21, 1960) is the Ziegler distinguished fellow and director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Project on the Middle East Peace Process.[1] (wikipedia)
Gaza First, not Gaza Last. If the pull out is successful, and people see it's quieter, it could embolden moderates on both sides.
The right wing in Israel will be the clear beneficiaries of these (Palestinian) elections.
That suggests to me that the president wants to make sure that the change is permanent and not subject to tactical sorts of adjustments.
I think their basic view is, 'When you, the Palestinians, show that you're doing it, we'll get involved. If not we're not going to invest a lot of political capital.' I think that is the message.
It's clearly offensive when the president of Israel makes a criticism and instead of dealing with the essence of the criticism, Netanyahu turns it around and basically questions the motives and patriotism of the president.
This is a consequential election, with monumental events. It's all about one idea: borders.
He has basically got to freeze the peace process to woo back alienated right-wing voters.
If his team is not on board, how is the country going to be on board?
The key is for the U.S. to send an unambiguous signal that it wants to see a cooling-off period, ... Especially until it is clear what kind of policies, what kind of government Sharon will be able to put together.
The younger generation wants to see specialists, and doesn't believe everyone can move from job to job. The younger generation is more technocratic. The tendency of the old generals is to base the merits of people's worth on where they fought.
