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By going to Annapolis, the current government ignored one of the first rules of Israeli diplomacy: avoid international conferences at which you be in the minority, and if you must go, make sure that conditions for Israel involvement are set before the conference, according to Zalman Shoval, former Israel ambassador to the United States who spoke to Likud Anglos in Netanya on March 26, 2008.

Shoval described how this rule was applied in the past: Yitzhak Shamir and Moshe Dayan insisting that pledges be made in writing that the 1991 Madrid Conference be based on U.N. resolution 242 which linked any withdrawal to Israeli security concerns, thus recognizing Israel's right to defensible borders, and that the conference would not support the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Neither Jerusalem, refugees, or the so-called land for peace principle were part of the Madrid agenda. In contrast, at Annapolis, all of these issues were on the table, without precondition.

Moreover, lack of prior coordination between Israel and the U.S. at Annapolis led afterwards to a series of misunderstandings on necessary Israeli security measures and construction in supposedly agreed upon settlement blocks in and around Jerusalem. The most fundamental error of Annapolis was putting the Palestinian "statehood cart" before a weak horse that could hardly hobble along let alone gallop on its remaining two legs - the other legs being in Gaza and Damascus, Shoval said.

The key to U.S. support for Israel is for Israeli leaders to have the courage of their convictions, to state their principles clearly, and not to waver on their red-lines. Often discussed "American pressure" is more a result of Israel failing to effectively make our case to the world and wavering on our principles, than any fundamental disagreement with the Americans. The friendship of U.S. president George W. Bush and his understanding for Israel's security concerns is without doubt, despite occasional policy differences that originate with the U.S. State Department. Long-standing support from the United States is not wavering - and will not waver in the immediate future --despite changes in U.S. politics and administrations, Shoval predicted.