i actually see it more like "well, i can't be voted out for pretending to be tough on israel's position so i might as well pay lip service to ending the conflict". i give obama respect for trying to dive into it in his first term, and we can all see the results that has gotten him. between republicans trying to use the relationship between himself and netanyahu as a campaign talking point to being labeled the worst enemy of israel (or something to that effect). and he has taken the most moderate approach since clinton but he is still vilified as an enemy to US/israel relations. if obama returns to the negotiations in his second term i very much hope something permanent can come out of it.



the bedouin and druze seem to be the only non-jewish populations with any desire to be integrated into israeli society. and not even all the bedouin, mostly just the ones in the north (i.e. non-negev areas). the rest of the minority groups, as far as i can tell, just want to have equal rights. as long as most israelis look down on the arabs and others, i don't think they will ever have acceptance into a major party. even if israel concedes all the occupied territories to the palestinians, i doubt the arabs inside israel would be given equal rights to their jewish israeli counterparts. the best they can hope for is that this recent election is a foreshadowing of a leftward shift in israeli politics, but even then they won't see any benefit for another 10-15 years at this rate.

i do agree that the demographic issue will be the only real source of leverage for the palestinians going forward, but i don't think the political right will allow themselves to see the problem until it's too late to resolve things. most of them seem like they would be just fine living in an apartheid state if it meant they could claim victory to ending the conflict on their terms.