It's easy to be dismissive of the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be solved through a negotiated two-state solution. Libraries are filled with books about failed peace efforts. The daily news is replete with reports of developments that undermine a two-state outcome. Those who oppose two states are growing more powerful on both sides. And the impotence of the United States and international community when it comes to getting serious about this issue is so self-evident as to be cliché.

This week, Alpher discusses the new Middle East reality Israel confronts as a consequence of the US-Russian deal regarding Syria's chemical weapons, what lessons and conclusions can be taken from the massive commemoration in Israel of the 40 years since the outbreak of the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria, the significance of a ruling by an Israeli judge two weeks ago concerning Palestinian incitement against Israel, and the contribution of Osama al-Baz, who died Saturday in Egypt, to peace.

Beginning this Friday evening and continuing through Saturday night, the holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, will be observed by Jews throughout the world.

This week Alpher discusses the interim ramifications for Israel of the Obama appeal for congressional support to attack Syria, the most relevant lessons of Oslo right now, as Israel and the PLO once again seek a negotiated solution, and a summary of the outgoing Jewish year, 5773, from the standpoint of Israel's overall security.

Topics discussed are the Assad regime and its assessment of President Obama's decision to postpone a punitive attack pending congressional approval; Israeli assessment of the decision to postpone.

Also, the issue of shortages of and long lines for gas masks in Israel, and Israel's security needs if and when a two-state solution is reached.

Every year, on Rosh Hashanah, we wish you and other supporters of Americans for Peace Now that the coming year be a Shnat Shalom, a year of peace. Like other forms of well-wishing, it has become somewhat of a cliché.

APN is deeply concerned over the spiraling calamity in Syria. More than two years of fighting has left the country in ruins and more than 100,000 people dead, including, in the latest phase, hundreds killed in a chemical weapons attack.

Since the birth of the peace process, popular wisdom has held that an Israeli leader cannot be expected to expend much domestic political capital during talks, because political capital must be saved to "sell" any agreement at the end of talks. In principle, there is some logic in this argument. In practice, that logic is now hitting a brick wall. If recent events indicate the patterns of action to come, talks will be in danger of falling apart long before an agreement is in reach.

When Israel's Maariv daily wrote about housing construction in East Jerusalem this summer, it offered exact numbers - down to the individual house.

By Rob Eshman

Last Monday night after dinner, after the dishes were cleared, I sat in my dining room with Mark Rosenblum and asked him the question I'd long been meaning to ask: Why don't you just give up?