No State

Dov Weisglass, one of Sharon's top advisers, yesterday made clear what should have been enunciated quite a while ago.

The significance of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip is to put the establishment of a Palestinian state on hold, and do so with the permission of the United States, a senior Sharon aide said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday.

"Disengagement is actually formaldehyde," said Sharon's special adviser, Dov Weisglass. "It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians."

This should make it clear that terrorism will not be rewarded. The Palestinians were steps away from achieving another state for themselves just 4 years ago. Today they get nothing. I'm sure there will be more handwringing from the EUnuchs, but after having clearly shown their anti-Israel stance, Israel considers them irrelevant. The Palestinians have no one to blame but themselves.

More importantly, the Bush Administration supports Sharon in this move. (I wonder what a President Kerry's reaction would be?)

Weisglass said in meetings with Bush administration officials he had received full backing for Sharon's plan to freeze the peace process with the Palestinians, Haaretz reported.

"What I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns," he was quoted as saying.

It will be a cold day in hell before the Palestinians become Finns.