There is little Israel can or should do in such circumstances except watch from the sidelines while doing its best to keep terror to a minimum. The notion, regularly repeated in Washington and the capitals of Europe, that one can tip the balance by strengthening Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the supposed “moderates” in Fatah against Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the rejectionists of Hamas, thereby producing a stable Palestinian government capable of negotiating with Israel, is mere whistling in the dark. Even if there are true moderates in Fatah who have genuinely internalized Israel’s right to exist, they have no ability to control or mold public opinion, much less to obtain its backing for the acceptance of minimal Israel demands—for example, unequivocally waiving the Palestinian “right of return”—the very mention of which is taboo in the Palestinian street. On the contrary: knowing that such concessions, unimplementable in any case, would spell their downfall in their rivalry with Hamas, Abbas and Fatah will never make them.

In sum, Israel cannot negotiate with the Palestinians, cannot withdraw from the West Bank, and cannot remain there permanently, not only because the world will in the long run not allow it but because such de-facto annexation would tilt the balance of Jews and Arabs within Israel’s borders disastrously in the Arabs’ favor. It can only sit tight and hope that the unforeseeable, which is another name for the future, will eventually present new solutions.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10842