Well Netanyahu has a point, and the west bank is closer to Israel's population centres, as a fact.
Hate filled Hamas, blinded by a desire to eliminate and drive Israel into the sea, has played right into Netanyahu's hands.
What did you suppose would happen as thousands of rockets, (Gaza's international aid program) rained down on Israeli heads?
That they would say never mind, push their brollies up, and go about their business?
As opposed to finally overreacting, and bringing international criticism on them instead!
I can't pretend to know what the answer is; it's just not more of the same!
I mean, doing what you've always done, just gets you what you've always got!
And you want more of that!?
Enough already, Rhrosty.

"No one in their right mind can suggest that Israel should withdraw from the West Bank precipitously like it did from Gaza and Sothern Lebanon in 2000 almost overnight, with no coordination and no agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) or the Lebanese/Syrian governments, respectively."

I do.

Of course it would be nice if security-arrangements can be reached with the Palestinians, but that's probably infeasible because such arrangements would have to be respected by everyone and nobody can reign-in the fanatics from either side.

What the article overlooks is the fact that Israel has no ability to forcibly remove its Jewish settlers; and then also to prevent them from returning there and carrying in revenge horrendous terror-attacks against both Israel and Palestine.

The big error in the Israeli evacuation of Gaza wasn't the lack of coordination with the Palestinians, but the dramatic forced-removal of Jewish settlers from their homes - and the numbers in the West Bank are larger by several orders of magnitude.

Instead, Israel should split the settlers by offering those of them who are willing to leave a financial compensation package: the more generous it is, the more settlers would leave, but in any case a hard kernel of them would remain. Rather than forcefully evacuating them, Israel should make clear that if they stay in the West-Bank, then they are on their own there. However, the Palestinian-Authority could not agree to that, so Israel should proceed and do it anyway, unilaterally.

As for the Palestinians, the aim of most of them is still to destroy Israel and kill all its people, rather than to have a state of their own. The only reason they don't do it, is that they can't - and no matter what territory they have or not, Israel is so much stronger that there is no chance in the world they would be able to accomplish their real aim in any foreseeable future.

Israel should care for its own interests, and spitting out the poison of the occupied territories of 1967, is necessary for Israel to recover from its internal grave ailments.

Dear Rhrosty,

<<What did you suppose would happen as thousands of rockets, (Gaza's international aid program) rained down on Israeli heads?
That they would say never mind, push their brollies up, and go about their business?
As opposed to finally overreacting, and bringing international criticism on them instead!>>

Israel should make it clear that if, even after the 1967 occupation is completely ended (including East Jerusalem), those stupid so-called "Palestinians", now with their own state, still dare to even throw a stone across the border-wall, then the whole West-Bank would be burned down and no living soul would remain alive there.

So far, Israel with its guilty conscience could not do so, but once its conscience is clear, it has the military means to totally burn down the West-Bank so fast that the world would not have time to blink.

What a nonsense that Israel "couldn't" get the interlopers out of the West Bank. If they dug their heels in, Israel could outsource the job to Hamas. They'd sort it. Alternatively Israel could, if the illegal settlers defied an order to quit, withdraw their security cover and leave the settlers to cope on their own with the hostility of their dispossessed Palestinian neighbours. They'd be skidaddling back to their real homelands quicksmart.

Dear Julian,

It is unwise to underestimate the enemy: the core-settlers are armed, well trained (most served in the Israeli army), organised, determined and willing to die for their cause, believing it to be a divine test.

In the event of an armed struggle with Hamas, I dare not predict who will emerge the winner.

One reason the Israeli army cannot fight them is fear for their families: the settlers gathered detailed information about all army-officers and their families. As they threatened already, should an Israeli army officer attempt to evacuate them, their child might not return home from school/kindi.