No, Israel doesn't want peace

Moshe, it is commonly accepted that the settlements are not going anywhere! The whole Oslo peace process was predicated on them staying and for there to be a decent land swap. So you are out on a limb. Yasser Arafat negotiated Oslo on them staying, so they are staying.

Let's say they were evacuated in full; how long would it take for a katyushah to hit Tel Aviv or for a British Airways plane to be shot out of the sky...10 minutes? 20 at a push?

Rich, with all due respect, the Oslo "peace process" was predicated on Israel negotiating about the settlements' future, not by saying that they would stay forever. Israel has never shown goodwill in its talks with the Palestinians. It's all been a bluff to buy time, when time was never on Israel's side.

Camp David, the Clinton Parameters and Taba were all about land swaps. At Taba the offer was of one to one. Even East Jerusalem was decided. All Arafat had to do was to say "yes" and the conflict might have been resolved. Instead he called the 2nd intifada.

I don't blame him for not saying "yes" though as he would have ended up like Rabin or Sadat. It takes a brave man and Arafat was an obvious coward.

Israel never negotiated in good faith. It was building settlements while it talked. It has no intention of handing over the West Bank and why should the Palestinians agree to what are in effect bantustans?

Yes, i agree, because Arafat gave the nod! There wasn't the same uproar back then as there is now because everyone was behind the settlements staying and the land swaps, including Arafat.

He agreeed to everything along the way but couldn't bring himself to sign on the dotted line. He knew that as soon as he did and Israel withdrew then civil war would ensue and he'd have been hung in Ramallah's central square. Abbas is now in the same predicament.

I ask again, Rich, why would the Palestinians agree to something that would in effect leave them with nothing more than a few bantustans? They know that staying put and holding on means that Israel, through the settlements, will eat itself.

Israel is fine with the settlements. They are legal under international law. Few people i meet in Israel have a problem with them.

And what do you mean by bantustans? The West Bank and Gaza will be contiguous and continuous. There will be no sections just two entities which will be connected by some sort of tunnel or bridge. I think you are exaggerating. You have heard someone use the word "bantustan" and think it is a great word because of its apartheid connotations but it amounts to nothing more than just another propaganda attack.

The settlements are illegal under international law because they are colonies on occupied land -- that is, land acquired by force. And if you believe that what Israel offered was contiguous and continuous then I have bridge for sale between Southwark and Tower Hamlets that you might want to buy.

That land is legally for Jewish settlement. See Balfour Declaration which was incorporated into League of Nations which was taken over by United Nations. It is legal however you try to argue it.