The peace process battered Israel's reputation.
Absolutely.
"...in its desperate quest for peace, Israel backed away from each of
those red lines."
"With each retreat, it lost respect."
"And all the while
it reinforced a false and terrible message: Peace would be possible if
only Israel were willing to give up more. The absence of peace,
therefore, must be Israel's fault."
"The 19-year disaster of the peace process -- that is what happened to
Israel's reputation."
"How can the Jewish state get its good name back?
Step 1 is to jettison the policy that has caused it such harm."
NOTHING that Israel (the Jews) do will actually make peace happen. So it's definitely best to cut our losses and negotiate from a position of strength.
By the way-not every problem has a "solution".
I don't believe that at this stage of history, there is a "solution" to the "Middle East" problem.
The problem is the religious conflict between Islam and Judaism, which is represented and fought-by proxy-in Israel.
There is no "solution" to that problem.
The best we can hope for is not a "solution" ("peace treaty") but a cold, begrudging arrangement of limited interaction and increased separation whenever and wherever possible.
But we should always expect and plan for belligerence, sabotage, and anti-Jewish terror of every sort (murder, military, psychological, economical, technological, political, philosophical, artistic and cultural).
