Thomas L. Friedman, Mid-east Peace Plan, Take...???

The Hard Truth

In the wake of repeated suicide bombings, it is no surprise that the Israeli Army has gone on the offensive in the West Bank. Any other nation would have done the same. But Ariel Sharon's operation will succeed only if it is designed to make the Israeli-occupied territories safe for Israel to leave as soon as possible. Israel's goal must be a withdrawal from these areas captured in the 1967 war; otherwise it will never know a day's peace, and it will undermine every legitimate U.S. effort to fight terrorism around the globe.

Well, of course Sharon wants to keep those territories. They're not "occupied," they're conquered. Israel took 'em fair and square. They don't "belong" to the Palestinians by some natural "right." They were taken from other Arab states in the area, like Egypt and Jordan. If they are so tremendously concerned for a Palestinian homeland, I'm sure they can spare some more.

"The only solution is a new U.N. mandate for U.S. and NATO troops to supervise the gradual emergence of a Palestinian state -- after a phased Israeli withdrawal -- and then to control its borders," says the Middle East expert Stephen P. Cohen.

People say that U.S. troops there would be shot at like U.S. troops in Beirut. I disagree. U.S. troops that are the midwife of a Palestinian state and supervise a return of Muslim sovereignty over the holy mosques in Jerusalem would be the key to solving all the contradictions of U.S. policy in the Middle East, not new targets.

And never mind giving over all the Jewish holy sites in the city.

Putting US troops in the Middle East to foster the creation of some mythical Palestinian state is quite possibly the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.
And that is the hard truth.