Hope?

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli leader Ariel Sharon said on Thursday conditions were right for a "historic breakthrough" on Middle East peace after measures taken by new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to bring calm.

He said that if Palestinians worked to "fight terror," then Israel could move forward with a U.S.-backed peace "road map" meant to lead to a Palestinian state.

"I believe the conditions have been created to permit us and the Palestinians to reach an historic breakthrough, a breakthrough that will lead us to security and peace," Sharon told a business forum.

[. . .]

Now, I trust Sharon and his Likuds about as far as I trust Bush and the Neocons. About as far as I can piss into a force nine gale. So far he's managed to fuck the Palestinians, rightly or wrongly, on a regular basis. However I welcome any attempts to reach some sort of accommodation in the region. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the root causes of terrorism. With the grandaddy of the modern terrorist movement (Arafat) dead, and Abu Mazen seeming to keep the peace since the election, it actually allows one to hope that peace might actually be an option. Too bad Bill Clinton wasn't here to take advantage of the opportunity. Remember the Troubles in Northern Ireland? When was the last time you heard the acronym IRA referred to something other than an investment plan?