Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently rejected overtures by Hamas for discussions about a temporary cease-fire. So what else is new? Israel’s ruling coalition wants peace as much as the neocons want it back in Washington. What I find surprising is that the Likudniks no longer care to even make a pretense towards peace. Take, for example, Annapolis and the US sponsored peace conference. In olden days the Israelis would go though the motions of peaceful intentions while peace initiative after peace initiative unraveled. No longer. Even before negotiations have begun, the Israeli government has announced more illegal housing to be built in the occupied territories. Maale Adumim, with an illegal Israeli population of 30,000, is to have 240 more apartments, and to hell with what the rest of the world thinks. Thanks to the neocons and the Cheneys—I no longer call them Bushies because the name is inappropriate—this, too, shall pass, and to hell with Annapolis and the American taxpayer who is picking up the bill.