Regarding Steve's option, I think its potentially a little misleading to cast the alternatives as starkly as "abandon Israel."

To my mind, promoting a stable two-state solution the Palestinian-Israeli conflict along the lines suggested by the Clinton Parameters (2000), Beirut Arab League summit resolution (2002), and Geneva Accord (2003) is hardly "abandoning Israel." Rather, it is rejecting the extremism of both the Israeli settler lobby and Palestinian hardliners to emphasize the center ground in the conflict. Indeed, I believe it to be in the interest of a great majority of Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the international community.

On supporting Arab dictators, I think there's a trade-off here between short and long terms. In the short term, authoritarian Arab regimes are useful CT allies. In the long term, the West's support for them is a major source of local grievances, and strengthens the appeal of radical and anti-Western groups, thereby aggravating the CT challenge.

In the medium term, its just plain messy. I'm inclined to believe--hopeless romantic that I am--that, when in doubt, its not a bad idea to do the (morally) right thing, which probably doesn't involve supporting repressive regimes.