Nefesh:
I usually vehemently disagree with you but here you are right:
To most of the “anti-Zionists” here a Zionist is anyone who doesn’t want Israel to commit suicide and doesn’t believe Israel should be held to a different standard than other nations, especially its HIGHLY non-secular neighbors.

Not that I don’t believe Israel doesn’t need a MAJOR housecleaning, starting with that crime boss Avigdor Lieberman.

Nobody who posts here seems to know what a Zionist really is.

Fools.

Where someone should sit?  I remember when
negotiations to end the Korean War were held up
arguing the shape of the table where the delegates
would be seated - round? oval? square? oblong?
rectangular?  Took six precious months to reach this
monumental agreement - in the mean time hundreds
more, Koreans and Americans, lost their lives in that
beleaguered country.

This is only the first of what will probably be many
stalls by Israel.  After all, Palestinians have been
living separated or quarantined as the backdrops of
their daily experience for 60 years.  Why change now?

The biggest threat to the Zionist agenda is not Arab terrorism, but Arab democracy. 

Unlike the dictators, deposed and about to be deposed, the Arab people will not do the bidding of Washington and Tel Aviv against their own best interests.  Egypt will soon destroy Israel’s cruel and criminal blockade of Gaza, and that’s just the start. 

I’m confident that the people of the Middle East have noticed the very different results produced by peaceful protest in Tunisia and Egypt versus armed revolt in Libya, and understand that peace is the only way.  Things are still horrible in Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain of course, but the writing is on the wall.  Assad, Saleh, and Al Khalifa, have no future.  Their time is up.  They’ve shown the world that they are beasts.  There is no redemption for them, no turning back.  The people they have abused and oppressed for so long are no longer afraid of them.  Let us all hope that the brutes fall soon, with a minimum of additional bloodshed. 

If the people of the Middle East take the lesson of peace to heart and achieve real democracy, they may be able to rein in Israel without letting them start World War III, and the Arab democracy that the Zionists now fear will end up becoming the greatest gift Israel has ever received.  The Israelis will discover that the world is not out to get them, that peace and good will are far healthier and more enjoyable than paranoia, belligerence, and hatred,  and Israel will become the great country it should be.

Please read Ramzy Baroud’s excellent column entitled “Palestinian Unity and the New Middle East:”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/05-2
Egypt is emerging as a leader in the Middle East, even as U.S. and Israel are beginning to lose their influence. He writes:
“Now the Middle East is spearheaded by a powerful Arab country, secure enough to reach out to multiple partners - other Arab countries, as well as Iran, Turkey and others.”
and:
“A Palestinian unity in post-revolution Egypt, with the blessing of all Arab countries, Turkey, Iran, and many others, is an extremely worrying prospect for Israel.”
His solumn is well worth the read.

Great.
The next time Hamas launches a missile in a ballistic trajectory towards Sderot or Beersheba or Ashkelon, or when they fire a Kornet ATGM at a school bus, the IDF has a name and address for the new Palestinian Arab “government”.

Fire when ready.

who’syourdebs…

Your prediction of future events is in the realm of
possibilities, but we have to look at current events
for a keener perspective.  Tow things have happened
that make unity between Hamas and Fatah more
appealing.  First, the ouster of Mubarak moves Egypt
towards a more conservative camp if not into the
Muslim Brotherhood which gives Hamas a boost and
forces the hand of Fatah.  Second, the impending
resolution before the UN General Assembly to declare
a Palestinian state unilaterally gives Fatah a boost
and forces the hand of Hamas to include Gaza.

There is no doubt that the unity government which
may be a single entity after the fall elections will
make overtures to continue the “peace” negotiations,
but Israel will be between a rock and a hard place
to accede.  In the end what is likely to happen is
an extended truce much like that between North and
South Korea or between the People’s Republic of
China and Taiwan where neither party recognizes the
legitimacy of the other.

Could things be “sliding” toward a united Palestinian state recognized by most of the countries of the world? Seems hard to believe after all this time. The key to this has always been, it seems to me, non-violent civil disobedience and peaceful mass demonstrations on the part of Palestinians. The Israeli authorities would then have to explain their violent suppression of them or why they have excluded international media from viewing said activities, should they choose to cover up. The terrorizing of the Palestinians by Israel is apparent for all to see who look. The non-violent route will garner support too from the Jewish-American community in the US, who still holds some of the leftist sensabilities so clearly and bravely displayed in the 1930’s and after, for example, in assisting in the black civil rights movement. They would be forced to view the striking similarities. They would realize why people like Netanyahu winced at the word “apartheid” when Jimmy Carter used it. The truth hurts. In tandem, the US administration must get the cajones to use our massive military aid as leverage to persuade Israel against settlements, and to bring about a consensus by all that Jerusalem must be “shared”. At the root is the perhaps-insolvable conundrum of having a state religion in a non-homogeneous country.

You know it’s a great step forward when Netanyahu declares the agreement to be:
“a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism”.
Netanyahu doesn’t know the meaning of the word “peace,” and he’s responsible for a good share of the terrorism in the Middle East. It’s great that Hamas and Fatah have reconciled.
The far left and the Libertarians should let this be a lesson. Together, we, too, could come together and fight the established power in Washington. We shouldn’t let the naysayers on both sides, who have their own agendas, divide us.

The world can only hope…....