Submitted by Andrew Berman, May 15, 2007 10:44

The trap that somehow, somewhere, if we just give this or that, the Arabs will live in peace with us. We have to give something, right, because that's how people act in negotiations?

So any peace with the Arabs must include yielding on the Temple Mount during negotiations, since the Arabs want it so much (more than the Orthodox?).

But this is not a negotiation. Negotiations assume two fixed parties and decision makers, but there are no decision makers on the Arab side. Nor are the parties fixed as time moves on over the decades. It will never be the case that the Arabs as a unified whole will says "give us the Temple Mount and we will give you peace', and stick to it.

This is slow warfare that has been going on for centuries and will continue to go on for centuries. There are no conditions under which the Arab regimes can be trusted to hold their end of the bargain going forward. Thus, the maintainence of Jewish control of Jerusalem is not a goal, but an eternal process, one that would be hurt seriously by giving up or yielding the Temple Mount in the foolish hope that such an act would be reciprocated.

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