Re: west bank
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the previous Labor government bent over backwards to appease the Palestinians, only to have the Palestinians reject the deal and embark on a campaing of suicide bombings.
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The previous Labor government never made any formal offer of anything to the Palestinians. The best terms it indicated it would accept amounted to permanent control over Jerusalem (traditionally, the cultural and political center of Palestinian life), permanent settlements on the West Bank, the Jordan River Valley and another quarter of the West Bank. The best deal either party came close to was Clinton's, fairly similar to the above, and Arafat accepted that, only to be rebuffed by Sharon. As for the suicide bombings, which Arafat condemned, Israel had killed some 300 Palestinian civilians before they started.
I appreciate that there are a dozen pundits that you can cite for your version of events, but it simply isn't true. The Palestinians and Israel were negotiating until the very last days of BArak's administration. Sharon refused negotiations altogether, well before the suicide bombings began, and continued to refuse them whenever they stopped.
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