If there's no negotiated peace, that means no peace, and in the long run that would mean no Israel. It might take generations for that to happen, but that's how these things work.

And if the outcome of the process started on September 11th is a confrontation between the USA (with a handful of hangers on) and the rest of the world, it would mean that the architects of September 11th will have achieved what they wanted. And in the long run I can't see a good outcome from that, for anybody.

Maybe that's how it will work out. But throwing up the hands and accepting it doesn't seem a good option.

The differences between the two peoples who share the Holy Land are real enough, and intractable enough, but there's a lot in common too. That's part of the problem, family quarrels can be the worst.

That especially goes for Jews and Muslims. (Of course you don't have to be a Muslim or a Jew to be a Palestinian, or an Israeli for that matter, which is where the pig farm idea has a serious flaw.) After all, for Mohammed, Abraham and Moses (as well as Jesus) were seen as Islamic prophets. Many Israelis spoke Arabic before they spoke Hebrew, and in any case the two languages are closely related. The word for peace in both languages is the same - spell it Shalom or Salaam.

Culturally there's an enormous amount in common - music, food. And there's even a shared history of exile and persecution, paradoxically enough. And at the root of the troubles of both is the same evil force - European anti-semitism.

Those are the kinds of things that Jewish-Palestinian dialogue builds on and explores. And for the rest of us we should do whatever we can to encourage it, and to refrain from ever doing anything to encourage the people on both sides who refuse to try to reach out for peace.