Now, Israel is undertaking an historic experiment, as a result of its inner strength as a democracy that created an economy rivaling that of any West European country (or indeed American state) of a similar size. The free marketplace of ideas, after all, guarantees a free marketplace, indeed requires it.

That historic experiment is to promote the development of democracy in the Middle East, where Israel's geographically central position long frustrated the monolithic pan-Arab ambitions of great idealists who refused to face the reality that the Jews, after the Holocaust that befell them in the 20th century would not be the same Jews the world knew before that event.

Now we have reached a critical mass, with more than five million citizens, growing at more than 1 per cent a year as a result of immigration, and more than 6percent a year economically. This will be sustainable for several years to come, for the simple fact that as peace progresses, Israel will be an ever more attractive country to westerners as the economic growth continues.

Within our "Auschwitz Borders" as Abba Eban called them in 1967, we will have a GDP per capita higher than the US by the year 2020. This economy is largely based on exports, an expertise Israel was forced to develop as a result of closed borders around the country for its first 30 years. Exports brought in hard currency, but they also made Israelis aware of the outside world, and perhaps more important, recognize that military technologies provide only short-term gain in their development, but applied to the civilian market, create long-term market opportunities.

In short, peace has become good for business, and what's good for business is good for spreading, alebit slowly, the kind of prosperity that democracies require for their survival.

The Arab world, of course, is still far from democracy. But the Palestinians, the most revolutionary of the Arabs, and the vanguard of the Arab world in the West, have learned enough from the Israelis to build into the declaration of principles for the comprimise with the Jews, a structure for a democracy with checks and balances.

Yes, it sometimes seems that Arafat is dictatorial, and other times it seems he has no control over some of his fringe elements. He has not yet removed the destruction of Israel clause from the PLO charter -- yet he has vowed that he is waiting for the elected assembly of the Palestinian citizens who vote come the implementation of that part of the agreement. The vote is less than six weeks away.

It is all experimental, in the sense that never before has an Arab regime been established starting with a political democracy that will be watched by the entire world, and with a "proctor" of sorts -- Israel -- watching over it.

And Israel can afford to play that role -- just as it can afford "giving up the Golan Heights" because it is the far superior strategic force in the region.

This is not to belittle the Arabs -- on the contrary, they are going through no less a revolutionary change in thinking as the Israelis -- but it is to say that with a GDP 13 times the Arab world's (and that GDP is a result of work, not natural resources sold), "conquering Israel" to gain its wealth is impossible, while conquering it for religious reasons has been proven impossible, in large part for the same reason Israel's own "religious occupation" of the West Bank has been proven religiously impossible: such military conquests are essentially immoral, and religion can not long abide immorality in its name without perverting itself.