[dmeara]

That's why terrorism is the first pit stop on the course. It's both the out and the pressure on the PA. Bush can walk saying they didn't comply. The danger is not that the PA doesn't comply, it's that the Administration accepts half-measures. This not being the Clintoon years, I think it's a reasonable expectation that this reality on the PA will prevail. If it doesn't, the President has a legitimate and convenient back door.

Agreed. This is a clever continuation of administration policy as laid out by President Bush in a speech last year. It puts the onus squarely on the PA, but will not result in a Palestinian state, or necessarily peace in the region for the foreseeable future.

There is a pattern here. They are making the Palestinians an offer they cannot and will not accept, much as they did to the Taliban when they asked them to cough up Al Qaeda, and to Saddam when they demanded unfettered weapons inspections.

It will only work to reveal the intransigence of the Palestinian position.

[nicollo]

There is a pattern here. They are making the Palestinians an offer they cannot and will not accept, much as they did to the Taliban when they asked them to cough up Al Qaeda, and to Saddam when they demanded unfettered weapons inspections.

Precisely. This Administration has been brilliant, genius, at forcing its opponents to the full logic of their positions. France and Russia did as much to bring about the Iraq war as Saddam himself. The President gave them every opportunity to avoid it.

The same will play out with the Palestinians, as you say. I see it working to the positive rather than the negative. The key is, unlike Oslo, if it fails it falls of its own weight, and it doesn't bring us down with it. Therefore, I think it will work. The Pallies will have no choice but to play ball.

I also think that this will all result in a free Lebanon, free of Syria, Hezbolla & Co. If it doesn't, there's no resolution; it either does or it doesn't.