IMHO, he has called it, but at the same time, I think it is becoming clear that a fair number of the Palestinian desire nothing but odds with Israel. To be very blunt, they seem to feel quite happy with a thug like Arafat.Personally, I think they've been attacking the wrong people, though it was good to see the attacks on Hamas from both Israel and the PA increase.Israel cannot be expected to negotiate or give in to the threat of terror. Were I in their place, I would keep doing what I am doing, since a sign of weakness would only encourage the thugs and hoodlums perpetrating the murder-suicide bombings.
As far as I can tell Israel's being asked to do precisely one thing: freeze settlement activity. I'd like to see how the Palestinian people react to a true freeze, and perhaps a rollback of particularly problematic settlements like Hebron. If it's positive, then roll them back further.
It's clear from this thread that many Israel-backers aren't the least bit willing to do even that. Clearly we'll need to keep an eye on both sides.
-Eric
I fail to understand how a Jewish family building a house down the road from a Palestinian village, raising their children and studying the Torah, is an "act of terror" of the same magnitude as blowing people up at bus stops and pizza parlors. I simply can't see how these two things are equally evil or that the settlement thing is "more evil" than mass murders.