My introduction:
The 1993 Peace Accord was one of the worse agreements and event in Israel recent history. I was full of hope but doubtful. I talked with my older brother, a leftist peace activist and suggested that if Israel forces leave the Palestinian territories, all hell will break loose since Israel security presence there and the cooperation of well paid Palestinians kept the Arabs from murdering Israelis at will. Pinhas told me that if they behave like that we will crash them with out superior power.
So much for not understanding that the game changed and it is no longer army vs. army but Asymmetrical war. Individual Arab terrorists attack you at will and you can not send full force against them without killing innocent civilians.
But that ignorance of reality should not have come from an Israeli government leaders nor from Pinhas, a past leader in the Lechi Underground, in which I was also a member, joining at age 15.. This was the technique we have used against the British forces. However, with great difference. We went afeter British policemen and soldeirs only to create political pressure, and that means, minimal attacks on the British forces and definitelly not against civilians.

Israel lost of that wisdom with its eagerness for peace, and idealists like President Peretz and naive Rabin pushed Israel to a unrealizable agreement. That agreement was one sided. Israel pursue peace, give Arafat control of 97 percent of all the Palestinians and the Arabs organize to create terror by murdering as many Israeli civilians as they could.
We suffer a lot in Israel, and year after year we lost our idealism and trust in the Palestinian leadership.
The Rest you know, but not the Europeians, not the new US Administration. They "know" what to do to get peace there, despite lack of experience, and no understanding the nature of the Arab minds. What arrogance, what level of unrealistic idealism!
Matania

The Arrogance of the Advice-Givers - Barry Rubin (New Republic)

It seems to be accepted wisdom in Washington and European capitals that Israelis are so stupid about their country, situation, and region on the life-and-death issues which they have been dealing with for decades that they must be saved in spite of themselves by people who have no knowledge or experience on any of these things. No other country in the world is so frequently told this.

Is it so hard to comprehend that Israel's views and behavior are based on years of experience? That we know best how to save ourselves and have been doing a far better job of it, against tremendous odds, than many others? That heeding their prescriptions would be disastrous, in fact have already proven so? After all, the tragic history of the last 20 years has largely resulted from listening to such advice.

Today, the last thing Israelis need or want is pressure to make more concessions to the Palestinians. They've already made a lot; these didn't lead anywhere good. What Israel needs today is not "tough love" but real support.

The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.