Yus, This is Friedman at his best: lucid and cutting through the crap with candour and humour. Friedman is right to point out that as it stands, both sides are at fault and deserve our unreserved condemnation for both the incursions and the suicide bombings. More importantly, Friedman is right to say that the current crisis has reached a point where an outside imperium, especially a US one, is the only conceivable way to cool tempers and isolate the radicals, maniacs and terrorists on both sides; and help political moderation take it's course, whereby a somewhat 'just' settlement can be reached by both sides. I doubt, however, if anything remotely resembling a 'just' settlement can be reached which would leave both sides happy with their eventual lot. Where emotions are embedded in a dispute, and where the 'you are wrong and i'm right' mindset dominates the discourse of such disputes, a brutal tradeoff - as the Israeli/Palestine issue would invariably need to see off a kind of 'just' settlement - will always leave residues of emotions of betrayal, disillusionment and disenchantment with whatever 'just' settlement that political moderation ends up being bringing forth. This, however, shouldn't negate attempts by moderate voices to get both sides to start talking to each other - in the name of ending the current vicious cycle of violence, and seek political solutions to their differences. Let's face it: Israel is a fait accompli; it is not going anywhere away from the Middle East - unless, of course, you nuke the Jews out of existence. Arab leaderships should courageously step forward - as the Saudis did most recently - and prepare Arab public opinion for a Jewish state amongst them in their sub-region. Arab public opinion must now mature to accept a Jewish state in their midst - the 1960s Arab mindset of obliterating Jews out of existence in the sub-region as a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a no-brainer and can only lengthen the current political stalemate and vicious cycle of violence. Most importantly, ALL Arabs must unequivocally renounce violence, especially barbaric and uncivilised ones like suicide bombers, as a means to achieving political ends in Palestine. Likewise, Jews should stop ALL illegal settlements currently going on and those Palestinian areas already illegally settled on by Jews. The terroristic attacks by the IDF on innocent Palestinians and the everyday harrassments at checkpoints of Arabs should stop forthwith. Jews should prepare themselves for and accept an inevitable independent and sovereign Palestine, where Palestinians go about their daily routines without the everyday humiliations they are subjected to everyday by an illegally occupying IDF. Anything short of these basics would reduce peace to a mere chimera. Attitudes and mindsets simply have to change on both sides - peace won't come through cutting corners by using violence to terrorise, intimidate and humiliate in order to set your terms of peaceful co-existence. Let me take this opportune moment as a Muslim and say what virtually every Muslim pundit that graces the debates on the current Israeli/Palestinian crisis on 24 hour newswires is loath to say. I categorically condemn the barbaric and ghastly suicide bombings that Arab terrorists engage in against innocent Isrealis. Not only are these suicide bombings against every letter and spirit of the Islamic faith, it morally undermines the legitimate cause of Palestinians in their quest for decency and justice. More to the point: as Friedman observed, regardless of the rationale or how you wish to slice the motivations of those behind these suicide bombings, it doesn't negate the simple fact that these people are engaging in barbaric and ghastly terrorist acts, which, most of the time, are against the young, aged and the vulnerable amongst the Israeli populace. Where it is more worrying, horrifying and even ghastly is when young teenage girls are exhorted on the grounds of "matyrdom" to "sacrifice" themselves for the cause. Where did the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Yasin, read that from? Presumably not from the Qur'an. These exhortations of Arab leaderships to teenage girls to engage in suicide bombings are just akin to the pre- Islamic Arabian cowardly acts like men burying their baby daughters on socio-economic grounds. It ought to be categorically condemned by any Muslim worth his salt, especially those who know the true teachings of our Holy Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH). _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~