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June 1, 2003 Thirty-six years after the Six Day War, it's drawing to a close

By Robert Rosenberg Thirty-six years after the Six Day War, the world community, led by America, has decided to impose a peace on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is obvious that at a major part of the solution to the problem of terrorism in the name of Islam requires ending the 1967 Six Day War, with the the withdrawal of Israeli control over the West Bank, which Jews have referred to for thousands of years as Judea and Samaria, and over the Gaza Strip, which is the original homeland of the people from whom the Romans originally derived the term Palestinian.

According to the 8-page Elements of a performance-based road map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prepared by the international community in the form of the Quartet -- the U.S., UN, EU and Russia -- this process is suposed to be done, more or less, by the end of 2005.

It is too soon for optmism, but the Middle East is a very different place now that Iraq's Ba'ath regime is gone. There has not been such an opportunity for everyone to do the right thing in decades, perhaps more than a century.

There is an evolving democracy in Palestinian society, which is now going through an extraordinary experiment for the Arab world, in which the regime is moving from rule by one person, to a society governed with one law, one armed force and many political views. The

On the Israeli side, the messianic rhetoric of the mystic-nationalist right has lost its charm for the majority of Israeli Jews, who have traveled the world and no longer feel the need to fear or despise the goyim. Those who have long believed the occupation is not only bad for the Palestinians but for Israelis, take heart from Ariel Sharon's statement, 'you may not like the word ... but the occupation is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians, and bad for the Israeli economy' just as we take heart from Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' declaration that his mission is to establish a Palestinian state based on "one rule of law, one armed group, many political views.'

The important word in the road map is 'performance' -- which asks whether both sides can deliver? The majorities, on both sides, say the public opinion polls, are ripe for a deal. The leaders know that -- yet they have to do what they can to avoid civil war, which threatens both societies if those tough decisions are made.

The Palestinians in the territories will at best be able to offer their refugee brethren around the world to go to a new home, in the state of Palestine, rather than back to homes that no longer exist inside the state of Israel. The Muslims will get to visit the Haram al Sharif, the Islamic Plaza built on top of the Jews' ancient temples, if there is peace, so the factions amongst them opposed to a peace deal will be greatly marginalized.

On the Israeli-Jewish side, no less a rift will be created for about 100,000 to 150,000 people who will be told they must leave their homes. Most have only lived there since the early 1980s, after Ariel Sharon set in motion his grand "Settlement Enterprise", which was meant to block any deal with the Arabs (officially, Israel had still not recognized the Palestinian people then) that involved returning the territories. More than half the Jewish residents of the territories are children, the vast majority under the age of 18. A majority of the settlers are religious, many are extremely religious. Some will use arms, probably against Palestinians like suicide gunman Baruch Goldstein, but possibly against Jews, like Yigal Amir, to try to prevent progress in the process, just as some Palestinians will try.

So, do not expect high-flying rhetoric at this week's summits in Aqaba and Sharm el Sheikh. But hope, and if you are so inclined, pray, that George Bush can get across to the Jews and Muslimsthe essentially Christian message of goodwill as the first step to peacemaking; and meanwhile, while we are being told to believe that George Bush is serious when he says he means to see this through, we can be certain of one thing: it's about time someone stepped in and told the two kids fighting in the sandbox that he doesn't care who started it, it's time to grow up. (R.R.)

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