Submitted by Dave Levy, Nov 26, 2007 21:39

The stock market is more predictable than this Annapolis conference.

The high stakes gamble of bringing a rogue state like Syria to sit at the table, along with 14 other Arab countries, all allied against little David Israel, simply won't work. It's another mirage in the M.E. desert.

The proper procedure should have had Olmert (and his advisers), meet quietly with Abbas (and his advisers) behind closed doors, no cameras, and no press. They could have been joined at times by Secretaries Gates and Rice, AND President Bush and Cheney.

If more than one meeting was necessary, more could have been held, until an agreement, per UN 242 was worked out, an agreement that both sides could live with, that would not endanger Israel's security and basically give the Palestinians (PLO and Fatah), some degree of sovereignty.

Now, we will see Israel cornered, like a lion in the Roman arena, on the defensive, the vultures waiting in the wings to finish the Jewish state off once and for all, piece by peace.

Without Hamas and Iranian participation, as well as Hezbollah, ANY agreement, no matter how optimistic, isn't worth the paper it's written on, no matter who signs., even if all 15 Arab countries concur. Syria will never agree to a peace unless Israel withdraws from the entire Golan Heights, and relinquishes its access to the water.

If history is any indication, Arab words, will not match their deeds, including Syrian promises, as far as accepting Israel's existence and it's make-up primarily as a Jewish state or state of the Jews.

This makes it inevitable that the Palestinians will demand the so-called right of return (not a right) of any Arab who left Palestine in 1948 and 1967, and their offspring.

Many of the residents of Arab East Jerusalem (at present) are having second thoughts about even becoming citizens of a Palestinian entity, forgetting about Israel relinquishing land.

It's possible that all is said and done, some sort of compromise may come out of all of this, but I would not hold my breath?

Like the debacle of Oslo, neither Israel nor the Palestinians (W. Bank), have learned anything from past experiences. They are both living in states of denial and delusion.

What has been added since Taba is the emergence of the axil of evil powers (Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iranian nukes), not to forget the infighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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