The basic eventual solution to the Israel/Palestine mess if sensible leadership prevails is apparent to almost everyone who seriously studies the question. There will be two states. Holy sites will be controlled by religious authorities. Some Palestinians will live in Israel, and be subject to its laws, and some Jews will live in Palestine and be subject to its laws. Where exactly the borders are drawn will only come from difficult negotiation.

This type of solution is what was proposed by Barak in the summer of 2000 and, by rejecting it without making a counter-proposal along similar lines, Arafat set the cause of Peace back many years. The violence that has followed has only made things worse. I despair of seeing a solution any time soon, unless it is imposed upon the parties by an International US/EU military occupation.

The basic problem is that the "refuseniks" on both sides, although they do not speak for a majority, have enough power to enrage those who would otherwise be more moderate, and to assasinate those who challenge their power. Right now, I believe the Palestinians have more of these refuseniks exercising more power than is the case in Israel, but Israel certainly has its share (as evidenced by the assasination of its Prime Minister by an "orthodox" Jewish student).

I believe the real reason that Arafat responded as he did to Barak's offer is that he was scared that he would be assassinated by the refuseniks in his camp, and he wants to live. A real leader would have had the necessary courage. The real point of Sharon's current campaign is to force Arafat to choose his path. In effect Sharon is threatening to have the Israeli's assasinate Arafat unless he begins to display the courage necessary to put him in legitimate fear of being assasinated by Hamas, et al.

Hamas does not want peace. Nor is it willing to tolerate Israel as a Jewish state in Palestine. That is why the pace of suicide bombings picked up just when Powell and Bush were pushing for peace by calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The suiciders were turned loose just when Sharon was in the US to be given a tough talk from Bush about why there had to be a settlement. Instead, the suiciders exploded and Bush told Sharon to do whatever he thought he had to do and to join the war on terrorism with the Palestinians (including Ararfat) as the enemy.

The problem is that no one other than Arafat seems to be in a position to negotiate the sensible solution for the Palestinians and, if he also is unwilling to do it, then there is little hope. If he is unwilling to stand up to his own refuseniks he is irrelevant because he cannot bring about Peace.

I wish I knew what could.