“Israel today will not do anything, take no initiative whatsoever,” Halevy says, “unless the United States approves it. It was never that way before.” The retired spymaster sips his tea, and looks me in the eye as he searches for an appropriate way to define how the relationship has changed.

“Insemination is an act of two, not of three,” he finally says. “As a result of what happened in 2003 and 2004, the natural act of insemination between Israel and its neighbors is no longer possible.” ~David Samuels

This seems to me to relate directly to Edward Luttawak’s much-discussed Prospect article, in which he basically says that the U.S. should leave the Near East to the Near Easterners and, by implication, largely step away from the Israel-Palestine conflict.  If Halevy is right, that would also seem to suit the best interests of Israel as well, since ironically it would actually free the hand of the Israeli government to act.