Israel and Palestine



Well, the roadmap is pretty much torn up, I suspect.



Strike - react - counterreact - etc., ad infinitum.



The bus attack was utterly heinous. It demanded a reaction.

What a pity Israel reacted from the gut and not the head.



Israel reacted by killing off a Hamas leader, probably knowing full well that it would end the peace negotiations for good. They are not so naive as not to have known this.



Ismail Abu Shanab, the man they killed, was not a terrorist.

He was a negotiater. A middleman. A moderate.

The one who persuaded Hamas to hold to the ceasefire this time.

The one Abbas depended on to convince the extremists.



Mr Abu Shanab said in an interview two months ago: "Let's be frank - we cannot destroy Israel. The practical solution is for us to live alongside Israel. The future Palestinian state is not one that is to take the place of Israel."



He is not the kind of person that Israel should be targeting (never mind assassinating!).

Even though Hamas blew up that bus - he was working towards stopping such actions.



This attack also stopped the Palestinian Authority in their tracks. They were working on a plan to stop Hamas. They should have been given the opportunity to carry it out.



Now, the Americans are asking Arafat to help.

After sidelining him for all this time, I have a hard time believing them.

In any case, I suspect it's too little, too late.



It is back to war.

To the tanks and bulldozers, back to occupation.

I suspect, this is what Sharon wanted all along.