The best part of the joke is that the march was approved by Mr. Peace Now, Amir "binoculars" Peretz, Defense Minister of Israel by the grace of Olmert and the vicissitudes of history. Peretz's new side kick, Ami Ayalon, wants our vote as Labor Party leader, on a platform of "peace."

We know what these people want, because they say so, and because it is obvious. In the 70's "facts on the ground" were established by illegal and quasi-legal and legal-after-the-fact "activism," tacitly supported by the Israeli government in deed if not in word. Elon Moreh, Sebastiya and some other places come to mind. The marchers are aiming to resettle Chomesh. When they are done with that, they will go to the next stage. Having pushed the government, with assistance from the Hamas, into reconquering Gaza, they will be marching in that direction.

Only yesterday, an Ha'aretz editorial lambasted the IDF for providing protection to various marches of Greater Israel people and their allies, including one that featured desecration of Palestinian graves.

But these Chomesh marches are something much worse. If they are not stopped, they will create fresh "facts on the ground," -- a momentum against peace and sanity. In twenty or thirty years, we will look back on these marches and ask how we could have been silent. How we could have allowed a Gush Emunim II movement to develop, and even to allow our government to support it. We have already been in that movie once before. Where were we when Elon Moreh and Ofra were being hatched?

The apathy of Israelis and Palestinians, and particularly of the peace movements, if any still exist, is dismaying.

Ami Isseroff