All you guys have found the truth about this! The Democrats know that this is just a quagmire. They want to damage Colin Powell because they see him as an able adversary on the nationaly political scene. [ Even if we are not too fond of him! :) ]
The Democrats would also like to damage Bush.
The U.S. may send diplomats over, but it should be done only at the behest of Israel at this time. Israel has made the call that diplomacy is OVER, at least with this clown, Arafat. It is their call.
It's interesting to watch the talk shows on this. Everyone knew that Arafat was a front man for the terrorists. Everyone knew that Israel accepted him only because (1) he was the only one talking rather than chucking bombs [supposedly], (2) they had no idea who is replacement might be, (3) they had a knife in their back from the liberals in the international community [yes, it was more than just Clinton] who kept telling them to negotiate.
Israel has now said: "Enough of the charade". Arafat has clearly not negotiated in good faith. He has not given reasonable consideration to mammoth concessions regarding ceding land to the Palestinians. He has not made a good faith effort to bring known terrorists to justice.
Everybody knew it was a charade, except possibly our media!
Anyone who believes that Arafat is not part of the problem [by that I mean OUR problem as well as Isreal] should remember that they had just opened a museum to the terrorists in the Palestinian controlled area. It depicted a very recent suicide bombing in a very positive light. It was designed to glorify this activity. After Sept 11, and after Bush came out so strongly against terrorism, the museum was quietly closed.
Folks, it's all a game of charades.