[vanmorrison]

Your comments made me think; is it possible that the Gaza strip will be ceded to Egypt and the West Bank will be ceded to Jordan? This way, the Palestinian problem, created because of the previous failures in Egyptian and Jordanian wars with Israel, is defused permanently. At least as far as the Israelis are concerned.

The only difficulty with this scenario is that the Egyptians and Jordanians haven't indicated thus far that they want anything to do with their fellow Arabs, the Palestinians. For all of their bellyaching about the treatment of Palestinians through the years, you'd have thought so. But, given the past pathological behavior of the Palestinians, it seems their fellow Arabs know only too well that the Palestinians are like the crazy, ne'er-do-well, brother-in-law who is shunned by the family.

[mitchbert]

It's possible but I think more likely is that Egypt and Jordan will somehow be instrumental in bringing some semblance of order to the territories (in some form of coperation with Israel) that ends in the removal/destruction of the PA and other terror groups followed by new leaders with strong cooperative ties to Egypt and Jordan. That is, unless behind the scenes the major players have quietly been working with Palis who want no part of further hostilities with Israel and want to just put this tragic mess into the annals of history. Remember, free speech doesn't exist in Pali lands; opposing Arafat is a ticket to a high perch from a scaffold swinging upside down...there may be far more Plais willing to live in peace than we are led to believe. It wouldn't be the first time in history enemies simply decided enough was enough and decide to build for the future instead of endlessly refighting the past. Get rid of the thugs and we may see interesting and positive things. One can hope, anyway.