We've never encountered this situation before. Everyone, including the U.S., is playing this by ear.

This will weaken the left ... which is trying to persuade Israeli voters that there is a viable Palestinian partner. It will strengthen the right and the centre.

Broadly speaking, what we've seen sends a message to the international community, to the Palestinians and to Israelis, that more is possible, whether by agreement (with the Palestinians) or not by agreement.

[Israelis are still reeling from their own Nixon-goes-to-China moment.] No other politician had the toughness and the determination to do what he did in the face of the kind of opposition and criticism he faced, ... He's a tough guy.

In the name of participatory democracy, President George W. Bush's Arab reform policies are actively enfranchising radical Islamist parties with armed militias: in Iraq, where they form the government; in Lebanon, where Hezbollah now holds government ministries; and now, potentially, in Palestine,

The ultimate reaction on our part is that you seal the borders and let them starve, but of course that's impossible.