- Should Israel try to negotiate a “shelf agreementâ€? — a final-status deal that would then be put on the shelf until Abbas is strong enough to actually implement it, or should any negotiations wait until Abbas is strong enough to implement what is agreed to? (Haaretz)
- Gideon Levy says that the “boycott on the Palestinian Authority with the aim of weakening Hamas… has yielded its fruits: Hamas has become stronger.� So he asks: “Will we continue the boycott policy until an even more extreme and dangerous government arises in Gaza, such as the global jihad or Al-Qaida?� He argues that the boycott should be dropped in exchange for an absolute end to Kassams and the release of Shalvit and Alan Johnston, noting: “With or without Hamas, only a prosperous Gaza will change its direction.� (Haaretz)
- Susie Becher of the Meretz-Yachad Party argues that Israel should go for a Final Status agreement which does not seek to split the Palestinians, because leaders and peoples “do not have the luxury of waiting generations to see how it unfolds.� (Ynet)
- Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu says that Jordan should dispatch its Palestinian-Jordanian “Badr Brigade� to the West Bank, but many on the right attack the idea. (Israel National News)
- With no military option from Israel, Fatah or Egypt available, and Hamas unwilling to relax its grip on Gaza, Israel’s only chance of unseating Gaza, and a slim one at that, says Danny Rubinstein, is “offering a genuine alternative … pushing for an accord along the lines of the Arab Peace Initiative. (Haaretz)
- Shaul Arieli argues that a deal with Fatah covers too small a proportion of the Palestinians. (Ynet)
- Pointing to lands taken in 1967 – “Historic Jerusalem, the Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron and Gush Etzion, Mount Grizim and Mount Ebal, Shilo and Beit El, the Ayalon and Dotan Valleys and other places�, Elyakim Haetzni brushes aside the difficulties and asks: “Is there another people in this world that after all this would seek to destroy such an enterprise – education, science, Torah, industry, agriculture, a fantastic infrastructure – that cost billions? Where is that fool who would dispose of all his assets because they cause him too many worries?� (Ynet)
- Israel Harel argues that Abbas will be defeated in the West Bank as well: “Abbas’ men lost in the fight not because Hamas militants are more brutal or better trained…Hamas won because the vast majority of the Gaza Strip population supports it.â€? (Haaretz)
- Evelyn Gordon, arguies that strengthening the PA in the West Bank is just another round of falling for the Palestinian “good cop, bad cop” routine, which has failed for 14 years. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Should Israel allow Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza passage to West Bank?: Yes (Ynet) Yes (Haaretz) Yes (Haaretz) No (Ynet)
- Dror Ze’evi argues for a revised Road Map, focusing solely on the West Bank, conditioned on Abbas and Fayyad proving that the West Bank is under Fatah’s complete rule headed by the president. Israel would then release money, followed by removal of the majority of checkpoints within the West Bank, and the release of several hundred prisoners. (Ynet)
- Although divorce can be a painful process, the end results can be good, says Martin van Creveld, who believes there’s a good chance this is how the Gaza-West Bank split may play out. (The Forward)
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