Quote Originally Posted by Adam L View Post
Egypt would not have put up with them. This is part of what stopped the peace talks in the 90's. Gaza does not want to be part of or deal with Egypt.
Not really--no one really considered Egyptian control over Gaza (or Jordanian control over the West Bank) as part of a possible deal. Instead, the entire thrust of the peace process from the Oslo Agreement in 1993 onwards was Palestinian self-determination in the West Bank and Gaza.

They came very, very close to this in 2000-01, but all three parties (US/Israel/Palestinians) made major errors that scuppered the negotiations and seriously damaged the prospects for peace any time in the immediate future.

....no body cares about the Palestinians in reality. Frankly, most Middle Eastern countries want there to be more conflict, it puts stock in their hatred of the Israelies.
I don't agree--I don't think many ME regimes are served well by the continuation of the conflict. The public salience of the Palestinian question has declined over the years, but it is still an emotive issue as virtually all the polling data (another one here) suggests.

Palestinians, those in charge, don't want it to get better because they will no longer have a job and the they will start fighting amongst themselves.
I don't agree here either--whatever his domestic constraints weaknesses as a leader, I think Abu Mazen very much wants to achieve peace. Indeed, the usual Israeli criticism of is not that he wants conflict, but that he can't deliver implementation of an agreement.