عملية السلام

* Secretary Roche's remarks represent his own views and not necessarily those of the U.S. government. I have a new job. This one has 700,000 employees and a budget of $80 billion. That's the good news. The bad news is that we are paying for health care, not for equipment

After two years of armed conflict, Israeli-Palestinian strife still persists. Palestinian terrorism in general, and suicide bombers in particular, pose a serious threat to Israel, create a distressing environment for Israelis, and engender a challenge for the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) counterterrorism strategies. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and its chairman

Prior to September 2000, the track record of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist attacks featured more failed and small-scale operations than successful or substantial ones; at the time, Hamas overshadowed PIJ in terms of terrorist activity. Yet, PIJ's profile has changed since then. In August 2001, Israel listed three PIJ

King Abdullah of Jordan's visit to Washington tomorrow offers the Bush administration an opportunity to clarify the relationship between regime change in Baghdad and progress in the Israel-Palestinian arena. Last Monday, the king told British prime minister Tony Blair that in light of the failure to move the peace process

"The PA was born out of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was known for a long time as an aging, ineffective, corrupt, and poorly managed institution . . ." Why Reform? "While Palestinians should embark on a reform process guarded by Palestinian interests and internal conditions, Israel, with all

"Initially, Palestinian interest [in reform] was basically an effort to address the issue of waste. . . . One year into the establishment of the Palestinian Authority [PA], the Palestinian comptroller issued a report which shocked everybody because the report basically said we have been wasting something like $250 million

President Bush's recent address on the Middle East was a seminal moment for that region. It strengthened the idea that resolution of the long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not likely any time soon under the current Palestinian leadership -- and that successful peacemaking will thus depend on

The author of the seminal history of the 1967 war explores the conflict's origins and its lasting legacy.

After much hesitation and internal debate, President Bush has changed the ground rules on American involvement in ending the conflict in the Middle East. His call for a new Palestinian leadership as well as new democratic institutions and new security measures has raised the bar for Palestinian statehood. His central