When you can't afford to be an idiot

If there is an advantage to being a small country surrounded by enemies who wish you dead, and are willing to back that wish up with concrete action, it is this. Your dire circumstances do not allow you the luxury for indulging in too much delusion.

From The Washington Post:

JERUSALEM, Aug. 22 -- The Israeli government's plan to dismantle some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and redraw the country's borders is being shelved at least temporarily, a casualty of the war in Lebanon, government officials said.

The plan, which propelled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to victory in March elections and was warmly endorsed by President Bush as a way of solving Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, is no longer a top priority, Olmert told his ministers last weekend, according to one of his advisers.

[Snip]

Even without the financial considerations, the plan for unilateral withdrawal from some settlements is dead, other political figures and analysts said. The seizure of Israeli soldiers and the renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip -- from which Israel withdrew last year -- and in southern Lebanon -- from which Israel withdrew in 2000 -- have left the Israeli public with little appetite for additional pullouts.

The United States with its immense wealth, immense military power and (false) sense of security granted by the two oceans which form our east and west borders would be able to hang on to the stupidity of unilateral withdrawal for much longer than the Israelis.