text: One of my most illuminating discussions was with a senior Israeli military intelligence officer whom I had first met in 2007. He told me he saw both good and bad news regarding the Palestinians. The good news: "There is cooperationtactical, military, and with civilian infrastructure,"and "the PA has established order with troops trained in Jordan." The bad news: "We cannot implement peace because does not have Gaza. . . . The PA is not capable of taking back Gaza unless we do it for them, which we don't want." Reclaiming Gaza is indeed a necessary step for any Israeli-Palestinian agreement to take hold. But both Israeli and Palestinian optimists argue that it need not be the first step.