STATEHOOD NOW :

Hamas trying to bypass US (ERAN LERMAN, Jun. 19, 2002, Jerusalem Post)

The pattern of these terrorist horrors is becoming familiar, frighteningly so. It is not as if Hamas is not trying to strike at any target, at all other times. But again and again, large-scale operations designed to exact a heavy price in civilian lives, and thus push the levers of further escalation have been timed by the organization (which takes pride in planning its terrorist activities in line with its strategic vision) to coincide with major American moves.

Neither Arafat nor Assad, indeed, see much to hope for in the current American plans (which, in a sense, would bypass them both). In all likelihood, they see them as part of the effort to make the region less volatile, while the US gets serious about the business of deposing Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Hence their common interest, despite their visceral and mutual dislike, in keeping the fires of destabilization burning.

For so long as there is no Palestinian state, the Palestinians remain unified in their opposition to Israel, which serves to destabilize the region. Give the Palestinians a state--its borders dictated by Israel--and the instability will turn inwards as Arafat, Hamas and others fight over who gets to run the country. Statehood is inevitable, let it be on our terms and serve our purposes. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 19, 2002 9:00 PM