<Yasser Arafat has to earn "trust" - this from the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer - and will not, for the moment, receive any invitations to the White House. He has to curb "terror". But Ariel Sharon, whose army was accused of war crimes in Jenin by Human Rights Watch yesterday, will be joshing with Mr Bush in Washington next week.

It is a known fact that the terrorist camps are located within Palestine and that the suicide bombers are from Palestine, as even the noble Fisk admits. Weigh this against any accusation and you’ll find that people remain innocent until proven otherwise (yes, Jacob, this is also true of both OJ and Robert Blake). Sorry, but Israel emerges as the righteous victor here, while Palestine slithers angrily in its pen.

So, what the hell does the world want? The only course America holds at this point that will make any difference in the situation at all is in our heavy arsenals, but that would be wrong.

Yesterday's thrust into Nablus was another precedent. Far from being a retaliation, Israel did not invade Palestinian territory in response to Palestinian attacks. It said it had entered Nablus to prevent "future" attacks. Needless to say, the nature of this precedent went unreported.

It would be nice if Fisk knew what he was raving about.

In reality, none of these ludicrous negotiations will amount to anything. The world insisted the U.S. become involved in the conflict, but the only true way to become involved in any conflict is through military might. The world wants a peace-effort instead -- but there is no peace on which to build. I think it would be best all ‘round to just back off and let them kill each other. We could likely keep it contained (through our much-hated, yet incredibly awesome, military might). After the obliteration, we can go in, apologize for their ignorance, and try to piece the region back together -- so they can start it all over again.

The whole Mid-East crisis is pure crap, but then I’m sure the o-so-mighty Fisk has all the answers,
Dan