Also, I am fed up to the teeth with the notion that the US must be “evenhanded” in the conflict. For years, America and its sole democratic ally in the Middle East faced a hostile and intransigent alliance of Arab dictatorships and Soviet military might. Today, outside of the UAE and perhaps Kuwait, most of the Arab countries remain backwater slums — a noxious brew of official repression, human rights violations, misogyny, and Islamic social retardation. The Arab states, the EU, and much of South America are aligned against Israel. Why should the US feel compelled to be “evenhanded”?

Of course the Arabs and Iranians might step in and replace the welfare from the rest of the world, thus enabling continued terrorism. But the arabs are notoriously chintzy with their money, and hold the Palis in contempt besides. I doubt there would be much forthcoming from such selfless, generous sources of funding as the Wahhabist Entity. And Iran is suffering its own financial problems. Absent $100 a barrel oil they probably can’t afford to subsidize Hamas in the style to which it wishes to become accustomed.

It might not work, but I think it’s the best chance for peace with a minimum of bloodshed. Hamas and the other Pali terror groups, of course, will not let the process be bloodless.