Interview with Israeli Historian Avi Shlaim: "I am deeply pessimistic about the future precisely because there is no hope either from the Left or from the pragmatic Right. The Labor Party is in complete disarray and does not offer a coherent alternative to the policies of the Likud government.... [the] Mufti muffed it! Yasser Arafat is not a great statesman either. The Palestinians have been most unfortunate in having a good cause, but incompetent leaders.... Israel is a fact, and you do not redress one wrong by committing another wrong. The only realistic solution is not absolute justice, but relative justice and that means the partition of Palestine. After 1967 there was a real opportunity for the partition of Palestine and Israel rejected in favour of creeping annexation. In a word, I would describe myself as a Post-Zionist: Zionism had achieved its basic objective by 1967 and now the occupation should be ended so both Israelis and Palestinians can get on with their lives."

"The only fair settlement is a negotiated settlement leading to an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza with minor territorial adjustments. In other words, it would have to be a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.... The settlements are a cancer and have poisoned Israeli-Palestinian relations.... Labor was much more guilty than the Likud in this respect in the decade after Oslo. The greatest increase in settlement activity occurred under Ehud Barak. Now the chickens have come home to roost as Israel is so entrenched with settlements on the West Bank, it is very difficult to roll back the occupation. The settlements were a tragic mistake."

"Sharon’s policy is to avoid negotiation or compromise with the Palestinians.... He has his own agenda for Greater Israel and he is trying to impose it by force on the Palestinians. As you note, Sharon does not want a ceasefire with Hamas. Every time he assassinates a Hamas leader, he knowingly provokes retaliation which invariably takes the form of another suicide bombing. A continual low level of violence keeps Sharon in power. As the leading Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling explains in his book Politicide, Sharon’s basic aim is to deny the Palestinians an independent political existence in Palestine. His vision is to annex de facto half the West Bank, to redraw unilaterally the borders of Israel, and to leave a few isolated enclaves for Palestinian rule. That would certainly not be a viable Palestinian state. You can call this a success.

"But in the long term, Sharon’s project is doomed to failure because the Palestinians will continue their struggle, and the economic, political, and psychological price will become unsustainable for the Israeli public. In the meantime Sharon is destroying both societies. This is not my idea of a successful policy.... Sharon is the enactment of the most exclusive, aggressive, and xenophobic aspects of Zionist ideology. There is growing hostility towards Israel, and by extension towards Jews everywhere as a direct result of the relentless war he is waging against the Palestinian people. Israelis have always tried to silence criticism by claiming that the motives behind it are anti-semitism. But in most cases it is fair- minded people who see the suffering of the Palestinians, and their sympathy is naturally on their side as the underdog. Sympathy for the Palestinians is not evidence of anti-semitism."

Interview with Israeli Historian Avi Shlaim: "I am deeply pessimistic about the future precisely because there is no hope either from the Left or from the pragmatic Right. The Labor Party is in complete disarray and does not offer a coherent alternative to the policies of the Likud government.... [the] Mufti muffed it! Yasser Arafat is not a great statesman either. The Palestinians have been most unfortunate in having a good cause, but incompetent leaders.... Israel is a fact, and you do not redress one wrong by committing another wrong. The only realistic solution is not absolute justice, but relative justice and that means the partition of Palestine. After 1967 there was a real opportunity for the partition of Palestine and Israel rejected in favour of creeping annexation. In a word, I would describe myself as a Post-Zionist: Zionism had achieved its basic objective by 1967 and now the occupation should be ended so both Israelis and Palestinians can get on with their lives."

"The only fair settlement is a negotiated settlement leading to an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza with minor territorial adjustments. In other words, it would have to be a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.... The settlements are a cancer and have poisoned Israeli-Palestinian relations.... Labor was much more guilty than the Likud in this respect in the decade after Oslo. The greatest increase in settlement activity occurred under Ehud Barak. Now the chickens have come home to roost as Israel is so entrenched with settlements on the West Bank, it is very difficult to roll back the occupation. The settlements were a tragic mistake."

"Sharon’s policy is to avoid negotiation or compromise with the Palestinians.... He has his own agenda for Greater Israel and he is trying to impose it by force on the Palestinians. As you note, Sharon does not want a ceasefire with Hamas. Every time he assassinates a Hamas leader, he knowingly provokes retaliation which invariably takes the form of another suicide bombing. A continual low level of violence keeps Sharon in power. As the leading Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling explains in his book Politicide, Sharon’s basic aim is to deny the Palestinians an independent political existence in Palestine. His vision is to annex de facto half the West Bank, to redraw unilaterally the borders of Israel, and to leave a few isolated enclaves for Palestinian rule. That would certainly not be a viable Palestinian state. You can call this a success.

"But in the long term, Sharon’s project is doomed to failure because the Palestinians will continue their struggle, and the economic, political, and psychological price will become unsustainable for the Israeli public. In the meantime Sharon is destroying both societies. This is not my idea of a successful policy.... Sharon is the enactment of the most exclusive, aggressive, and xenophobic aspects of Zionist ideology. There is growing hostility towards Israel, and by extension towards Jews everywhere as a direct result of the relentless war he is waging against the Palestinian people. Israelis have always tried to silence criticism by claiming that the motives behind it are anti-semitism. But in most cases it is fair- minded people who see the suffering of the Palestinians, and their sympathy is naturally on their side as the underdog. Sympathy for the Palestinians is not evidence of anti-semitism."