Not an excuse, but an explanation.

It wasn't an official act of the Palestinian Authority. It was a mob.

It's not like there has never been a mob in the US.

It doesn't say much for the Palestinian Authority's police control, but they can improve.

The Israeli commander withdrawing from Gaza spoke of his hope that two peaceful states would grow from this. You seem eager for this not to be true. Why? Would it tend to undermine the picture of Palestinians as terrorists from the cradle that supporters of Israeli militant movements have so carefully developed?

A number of years ago, Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinistas, lost an election. The pro-Reagan crowd was all ready for him to take over Nicaragua and relaunch the civil war in that country. Instead, he surprised them by being what he had insisted he was all along: a patriot. He took his lumps, went home, and continued to work politically for the causes he supported.

Palestine contains a lot of pent-up rage that has never been expressed out of fear of the Israeli army. Outbursts like this are to be expected. Was anyone killed? Besides the Palestinian shot by Egyptian troops on Gaza's border with Egypt, I mean.

In the meantime, Palestinians can enjoy the freedom to go outside of their homes whenever they want, just because. I have always been able to do that. Have you?

"Since last night, I have been in the street, for no reason, just to breathe the air of freedom," said Samir Khader, a farmer in northern Gaza who needed Israeli permits to go in and out of his village, flanked by Israeli settlements. "I don't know what the future will bring, but at least, I can come in and out of my house at any time."