Land -For-Peace: The Idea That Will Not Die!

That seems to be the implication of the AP article:

As rockets from Gaza reach deeper into Israel than ever before, they may be weakening what has long been a cornerstone of Middle East peace efforts _ the prospect of exchanging land for peace.

Israeli hard-liners have warned for many years that any territory Israel vacates will be used to attack it.

Now they can point to the Hamas missile that slammed into a bus stop in this port city Monday, killing a 39-year-old woman. It was fired from the Gaza Strip, which Israel gave up in 2005 and is now ruled by Hamas militants who reject the existence of the Jewish state.

One would assume, based on this, that negotiations with Syria and the return of the Golan might be put on the back burner. And maybe it will--but in the meantime, the war with Hamas has not dissuaded everyone that retreating from the West Bank is such a bad idea:

But Shaul Arieli, a former military colonel and peace negotiator, said the current violence did not mean an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank was dead. Israel's mistake in Gaza was to withdraw unilaterally instead of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians, he said, adding that the missiles from Gaza began long before Israel withdrew.

"Israel has to leave the West Bank in an agreement with someone who recognizes it," Arieli said.

Let's just hope that Arieli does not have Abbas in mind. Joel Mowbray has written about how Abbas' comments, especially on the issue of recognition of Israel, have been cause for concern:

Most concerning to Congress, however, was a statement that at first blush might seem relatively innocuous. Discussing the question of whether or not Hamas must "recognize" Israel, Mr. Abbas explained, "I don't demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. I only demanded of the [Palestinian] national unity government that would work opposite Israel in recognition of it."

This comment raised eyebrows because it shifted the common understanding of what it means to "recognize" the Jewish state. Most understand "recognition" to be fairly straightforward: The acknowledgement of the right of Israel to exist peacefully as a Jewish state neighboring a Palestinian one. Mr. Abbas, however, now defines "recognition" as acknowledging in a literal sense that an entity named "Israel" is the party at the other end of the negotiating table.

Mr. Abbas does not deserve the benefit of the doubt on this count. Defending his "recognition" of Israel on TV network Al-Arabiya in October 2006, he explained that it was more a practical reality than a meaningful political position. He cited as an example the need for the PA to get $500 million from Israel: "The Palestinian finance minister has to come to an agreement with the Israeli finance minister about the transfer of the money. So how can he make an agreement with him if [the PA finance minister] does not recognize him? So I do not demand of Hamas nor any other to recognize Israel. But from the government that works with Israelis in day to day life, yes."

In other words, Mr. Abbas only recognizes Israel when money is on the line, but not in the way the U.S. and Israel think he does.

Well, Abbas has been described as being pragmatic--and if Israel is indeed able to bring Hamas to its knees, Abbas will be waiting to take control of Gaza, one more 'concession' that he will get for free without earning it.

Once that happens, the next step is the ultimate concession: a second Palestinian state--and the question is whether the momentum can be stopped.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Hamas and Operation Cast Lead.