[BenF]

An "Israeli victory" would like present day Israel sans most of the West Bank settlements, surrounded by Arab States that look like a modernized Jordan; at least moderately responsive to the material desires of its citizens. Not that much to ask except when you put it in context.

Well, that possibility was offered to Yasir Arafat and he turned it down flat.

Realistically, your version of an "Israeli victory" will never take place for the simple reason that the Arab leaders have no incentive to modernize or install democratic reforms. If they did, there would be no need to remove the Jewish "settlements".

IMHO, you are ignoring the root cause of the conflict - Arab hatred towards the Jews. Is it deliberate?

[Nonstatist]

Arab leaders have no incentive to modernize or install democratic reforms

Actually, the Arab nations closest to the Democratic Republic ideal (and remember "close" is a relative word) are those with little tangible resources, specifically oil, i.e. Bahrain, Jordan, Tunisia, etc. Maybe more like benign dictatorships, but with some semblance of representation and law.

Take away the oil money, and these countries are no different than Benin or Cameroon (worse actually). Forced to produce "something" , as opposed to "nothing", they are more susceptable to external (ie WTO, etc.) pressure.

Complete energy independence would be nice but is not going to happen soon, but if we can take Iraq and Iran out of the "producing nothing but oil" categories, that will dry up money for PLO type intransience. This may not happen soon, but it MAY happen. Thats all Israel can hope for, unfortunately.