On Tisha B'Av, Sunday, June 26, the former residents of Gush Katif are remembering -- in addition to the destruction of the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem -- the homes they were forced to leave behind 10 years ago in the southwestern edge of the Gaza Strip.

It carries big ramifications for American politics, the Middle East, and relations between the Islamic world and the West. Most everything will be more inflamed, not least the Iranian nuclear controversy and the future of Palestine. And of course American politics.

The incredible spectacle of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's speech to Congress -- in which he appeared as much as the leader of the political opposition to the Obama administration as the head of government of an allied nation -- has come and gone but will reverberate for a long time.

Leave it to Netanyahu, however, to use the Gaza experience to justify the continuation of the occupation rather than working out airtight plans with the PA that would entail security measures to ensure that the West Bank does not become a staging ground for attacks on Israel.

I disagree with those who suggest that Netanyahu will never change his stripes. Many deeply ideological leaders before him have unexpectedly risen to the occasion to answer the call from their people and the international community for a drastic change.

The word 'Meretz' means energy in Hebrew, and Aloni's unique energy mobilized change in Israel on all human dimensions since its founding more than half a century ago.