I cannot penetrate the soul of Arafat. I cannot know in advance whether, behind all the masks, he's the kind of leader who can reach an agreement or whether he wants to be the Moses of the Palestinians, staying in front of the river and not crossing into the promised land.

One of the lessons learned in the Middle East is to never try to anticipate the other side's moves.

I will not discuss future hypothetical situations.

War is no picnic. Wars should be prevented, and if you can't prevent them, you have to put them off.

I'm not afraid of elections. I've won every election I've fought in.

There is a need to accept a limited disruption of civil liberties in order to penetrate terror.

Israel will continue to act proactively to prevent the transfer of heavy missiles or advanced air defense systems from Syria to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which, of course, carries the risk of a military showdown.

The Syrian rebels, weakened by infighting, have also been victims of the growing rift between the U.S. and its closest Arab allies.

Hezbollah will support Assad to the end because his continuing hold on power is critical to its own survival.

The Middle East is a region where predictions go to die.