Too Late, Tom.

Friedman worries that Israel might soon regret its actions, "wake up one day and discover that, in response to the messy and turbulent Arab democratic awakening, the Jewish state sacrificed its own democratic character."

I think they've already blown well past that point, extinguished the beacon on teh hill idea, what with the indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians, the use of white phosphorus shells over densely populated Gaza, and the "Jews Drive Here/Non Jews Drive Here" segregated road system...

They just haven't awoken to real reality yet. "Call It Sleep" as the better writer Roth would have put it...

Remember, those Arab peoples are going to have a lot more say in how they are ruled and with whom they have peace. In that context, Israel will be so much better off if it is seen as strengthening responsible and democratic Palestinian leaders.

This is such a delicate moment. It requires wise, farsighted Israeli leadership. The Arab awakening is coinciding with the last hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli rightists will be tempted to do nothing, to insist the time is not right for risk-taking — and never will be — so Israel needs to occupy the West Bank and its Palestinians forever. That could be the greatest danger of all for Israel: to wake up one day and discover that, in response to the messy and turbulent Arab democratic awakening, the Jewish state sacrificed its own democratic character.