"...the one year anniversary of the Annapolis Conference will pass with no more than Israel stating its goal of creating a Palestinian state. However, what no Israeli leaders will state is Israel's commitment to the establishment of an independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state."

"Will you have the courage to be America’s president, a president of all Americans, Jews and Gentiles, a president for America’s interests, not Israel’s, a president who will heed the warnings of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison not to have a “passionate attachment” to any foreign nation, to avoid “foreign entanglements” that sabotage our interests, to end the influence of “factions”, i.e. special interests that dominate our national policies?"

“Israel says it wants to prevent the inhabitants of Nilin using the road so that it can ‘secured’,” said Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem. “In practice that means the road will be reserved for settlers to reach settlements even deeper in the West Bank, on the far side of Nilin. The road will be for Jews only.”

"As Obama comes into office, he will encounter a global reality very different from that of eight years before: a multilateral one in which a weakened and isolated US must find its place. He will discover that much of America's isolation comes from the view that the Occupation of the Palestinian territories is, in fact, an American-Israeli Occupation. If restoring a weakened American economy depends on repairing relations with the rest of the world, he will learn that without resolving the Israeli-Palestine conflict he will not create those conditions in which the US will be accepted once more into the wider global community."

"Let's hope that the spirit of celebration becomes a force demanding real change, before the dream of a bright new day becomes the nightmare of a very long dark night. That fan club for an individual needs to become a movement for society, before war, unemployment and unpayable debts turn their idol into a scapegoat, and our nation into a dead zone . People need to keep the faith, by all means. But we can’t just exult over surface change and pray that it gets better. We need to organize for democratic change of substance, and work to create it, very soon."

"...13 years later, Rabin's assassination continues to symbolize the rise of the violent messianic political right in Israel. They are still among us. They still threaten everything that is dear to rational, peace-minded Israelis. Here is one area where Rabin's successors have failed miserably."

"Domestically, and although the Israeli public seemed behind him, it took all Rabin's charisma, determination and credentials to overcome Israeli political hesitancy and, in some quarters, strong opposition to his peace strategy. He prevailed, and in addition to his solid popular support, maintained a working majority in parliament. It was probably this, the real potential that he would succeed in exchanging land for peace, that caused the Israeli right wing to consider a bullet the surest way to curtail his efforts."

"On January 20, Barack Obama will assume the presidency of a country that is divided, disgraced and destitute. Even so, it is a country that is hopeful, first of all because his inauguration will mark the end of eight years of plunder, lawlessness, and incompetence. But it will also mark the beginning of the administration of a talented and energetic young president, supported by a Congress under the firm control of his party, and with a substantial mandate from the public that elected him."