Stands like a rock, uh-huh

White House Switches Gears, Supports Arafat

"In the president's eyes, Yasser Arafat has never played a role of someone who could be trusted or who was effective," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.

But on Thursday, as Israeli troops shelled Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, blew a hole in his bedroom wall and destroyed three buildings in the sprawling compound during a six-hour incursion, a White House spokesman said exiling Arafat would not help bring peace to the Middle East.

"I don't think exiling Arafat solves anything," Sean McCormack said. "The issue is building Palestinian institutions and, in the process, bringing the Palestinian people into the building of these institutions."

Only problem is that the Palestinians we hear from the most -- Arafat, Hamas, etc. -- aren't interested in "building" anything, they want to toss Israel and the Jews into the sea.