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Source: http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/bstephens/?id=110010885
The Annapolis Fiasco
[Wall Street Journal] Brett Stevens - "Annapolis" was conceived earlier this year by the Bush administration as a landmark conference that would revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and lead to a final settlement by January 2009. Today, the operative theory is that Israel's neighbors, fearful of Iran's growing regional clout, have a newfound interest in putting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to rest. Few Israelis take seriously the view that the creation of a Palestinian state offers a solution to their concerns about Iran. On the contrary, they fear that such a state would become yet another finger of the Islamic Revolution, just as Hizbullahstan is to their north in Lebanon, and Hamastan is to their south in Gaza. Among the principles sharply in dispute is whether Israel is a Jewish state. One would have thought the question of Israel's Jewishness was settled 60 years ago by a UN partition plan that speaks of a "Jewish state" some 30 times.