Brigadier,
In all honesty, Americans have sorta lost our skills. All the hippie, radical leftist from the sixties have been discredited and own a mortgage, three cars (one an SUV) and 2.1 children approaching college tuition.
Our rioting skills have sadly fallen into disrepair. The last decent hullaballoo that I can remember were the WTO riots in Seattle, some years back.
"...to protest and yet know that none would care, least of all the nation being protested against!"
I dunno here. If I'm the prevailing Israeli government and GWB, or any other American president shows up at a protest against my government, I'm definitely taking notice. In this case, it might nearly be the same. This proposal been vetted by the U.S. Dept. of State and Ms. Rice will be in Israel on May 15 to discuss implementation. Hmmm....
She's sharp. Israel had better have their arguments firmly grounded. So should the Palestinians. They've yet to comment on the proposal. We need movement here and the U.S. has done nothing to undercut the Israeli government. Little is lost by giving Abbas the means to marginalize the Hamas influence.
Olmert's paralysis and his government's possible ineffectuality is no cause to dismiss the broader importance to which this proposal may lead.