<You may of may not have a point about other Arab nations' unwillingness to integrate Palestinians into their cultures, but the point is moot. It didn't happen and the Palestinians have had a de facto nation for the last few years in Gaza and the West Bank. Even if they had been integrated would it have been any different than Jews integrated into the nations they lived in during the diaspora? Would they still not want to return to THEIR homeland one day?

The Palestinians don't want a state, unless it is on the corpse of Israel. You could offer them Australia, and they wouldn't take it. As for the Arab world, crying huge crocodile tears for the poor Palestinians, I don't see any of them carving out a Palestinian State out of their own vast territories either.

Returning to the homeland?

Talk to anyone in the U.S. whose grandfather or great-grandfather was forced out of Europe or the Middle East. Ask them if they want to live in the Old Country. Ask them if they even know where the Old Country is on a map.

It's been almost half a century since the Palestinians went to refugee camps. If it were not for their elders indoctrinating their children in hate, the whole thing might have been water under the bridge by now.

America was largely colonized by people who were able to get over the idea that their existence was permanently and irrevocably tied to a particular chunk of landscape and a particular set of ancestors, and who went elsewhere to make lives for themselves. Those unable to break loose of their lands and ancestry stayed behind. This selection, over a couple of centuries, is beginning to show. There are people in the Eastern Hemisphere fighting wars hundreds of years old. The Civil War in this country was hugely traumatic, yet (despite a few holdouts) few people in this country are still bent out of shape about it. It is almost as though each generation is born brand new in this country. This has both very good points and very bad points to it (not everything old should be discarded), but it seems to be the case.

What I would propose Bush do now: Immediate and continuous high-level American involvement in the diplomatic process. Harsh economic sanctions against any legitimate party that does [not] make efforts to stem the violence. Agreement that extemists will not control the peace process even if every terrorist attack can't be prevented. A blueprint for peace based on two pillars: Security and fairness. (can you remember who said that last part first?)

I have no objection to diplomacy, but making peace between two other countries not our own should not be the top priority for any president, regardless of the political and economic leverage Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arabs throw around in this country.

If we did not rely on the Arab world for much of our energy, how much real interest would we have in this whole affair?

Moving toward energy independence should be a top priority.

I got one word for you, son...

"Nuclear."