A wall--and a way forward
Ariel Sharon's wall, President Bush understands, affords the first real opportunity to unlock the horror chamber of terrorism, violence, and despair in which Israelis and Palestinians have been trapped for more than three years. With the wall and the proposed Israeli withdrawals, there is now, finally, a chance to break the retaliatory cycle of suicide bombings and reprisal. The wall is a security barrier, not a political one, an expedient that doesn't prejudice any final-status issues, including borders. It will give Palestinians the opportunity to show how they govern in Gaza and on 60 percent of the West Bank. The wall will encompass less than 10 percent of the West Bank and leave 99.4 percent of the Palestinian population on the east side, meaning future negotiations will start from that point.
Not that this is enough to make the proposal succeed. If it is to jump-start the peace process, Washington will have to make sure the Palestinians get the message--that here is another test of their capacity to behave like a respectable government and halt the corruption and the terror that have so tainted the Arafat regime.
President Bush has spoken truth to terrorism and scored a genuine diplomatic achievement. It is the first time Israel has been persuaded to evacuate settlements, and if the president is right, it will be a beginning, not an end.
Now we will have a chance to see whether miracles are still possible in the Holy Land.
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