HOSING DOWN THE PESSIMISTS:

Mubarak: Sharon is Palestinians' best chance for peace (Arnon Regular, Haaretz Service and Agencies, 12/03/04, Ha'aretz)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday described Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the Palestinians' best chance for peace, and said that Marwan Barghouti's decision to run in the elections for Palestinian Authority chairman had damaged Palestinian unity.

Mubarak's comments echoed those of his foreign minister, who returned the day before from a rare trip to Israel, that were strikingly upbeat and could mean warming relations between Israel and an important Middle East peace mediator at a crucial time.

"I think if they [Palestinians] can't achieve progress in the time of the current [Israeli] prime minister, it will be very difficult to make any progress in peace. He [Sharon] is capable of pursuing peace, and he is capable of reaching solutions, if he wants to," Mubarak told reporters in Port Said, where he had gone to inaugurate a new port project.

"Israel's prime minister said he was ready to do what the Palestinians want, to facilitate the elections, and help in removing the checkpoints. He only asks for one thing: the end of the explosions, so they can work together on a solid basis," Mubarak said.

Tough week for Realists of Left and Right--Mubarak is supposed to be a hindrance, not a help; Sharon is supposed to be faking when he offers a two state solution; and the Palestinians are supposed to be incapable of accepting a state and then governing themselves. And, of course, the President, who drew out the whole Road Map of Palestinian statehood and democracy was supposed to be a moron, a tool of Israel, disengaged....

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 3, 2004 1:57 PM