[veronica]

You are living in denial. The UN vote was another 'token gesture'? Not meeting with Arafat is a 'token gesture'? Wake up and smell the coffee.

[AmishDude]

What many people do not understand is the diplomatic process. Like any negotiations, you don't want to go insulting one of the parties if you think you can get something from them. This indicates one very important fact: W thinks negotiations are lost.

The reason why America (and others) have in the past made nice with Arafat is that they thought they could get something out of him. Clearly, that entire pretense is gone.

Arafat is being squeezed from both ends, he doesn't have long and America and Israel have decided that the alternative isn't that bad. In the past, they would have been afraid that more radical factions would take control of the PA. It does not concern them now.