Again, there has never been a Palestinian state. Not under reign of Israel, of Babylon, Romans, nor Crusaders, Turks nor English, and not under rule of Arab Kingdom of Jordan. Evidence shows that it was never even brought up until after Israel again was established in its homeland.

Michael Kelly made several points in his May 8, 2002 Washington Post article “Israel’s Phony Partner” which look at Yasser Arafat’s role in “ peace process”. On second day of 1967’s Six Day War, Foreign Minister Abba Eban met with U.N. Security Council to make Israel’s case for preemptive strikes in a war forced by Arab nations. Looking at each ambassador he faced, Eban said, “Look around this table and imagine a foreign power forcibly closing New York or Montreal, Boston or Marseille, Toulon or Copenhagen, Rio or Tokyo or Bombay Harbor. How would your government react? What would you do? How long would you wait? The questions remain, and how - or whether - to recognize Arafat as a “partner for peace” becomes current quandary. Officially, U.S. still holds position that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ought to “recognize who Palestinian people look to as their leader,” no matter “how disappointed we’ve been with him over time.”

Disappointed? Let’s recap. He was given Nobel Peace Prize. Awarded much of land he demanded, plus a $90 million monthly(!) budget, allowed to build an armed force on Israeli territory. Finally, (as America’s former top negotiator, Dennis Ross, revealed recently on Fox News), he got both President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon to promise him all of Gaza and most of West Bank as an independent and joined Palestinian state, including a right of Palestinian return to that state, plus a multibillion-dollar reparations fund - and what does he do? Goes to war, and proveably orchestrates terrorist attacks against Israel. Yes, disappointed.

Some U.S. media, and even Secretary of State Colin Powell, may still believe Arafat is a peace partner, though Powell noted “we all may disagree with what Mr. Arafat had done over time.” We sure may. Take murder of 6 people and wounding of 30 more at an Israeli girl’s Jan. 17 bat mitzvah in Hadera, just one of many terrorist acts directly linked to Arafat’s control in documents found by Israeli forces in Palestinian Authority offices. These documents were revealed in a 103-page report released by Israel’s government in support of Sharon’s position that they cannot pursue peace with Arafat as a “partner”.

Mr. Kelly’s article states, “The New York Times buried its coverage of report on A10 and sniffed that evidence did ‘not appear to show definitively that Palestinian leader ordered terror attacks.’ The Post gave it front-page play but was even more dismissive, treating Israeli evidence with open disdain. The first ‘objective’ characterization of material, third paragraph, does not address documentary evidence at all but in a contrary slant notes that report contains ‘a great many assertions and allegations for which no documentary proof is offered.’ In paragraph 12, after three paragraphs of Palestinian officials and lawyers dismissing evidence as propaganda, The Post's reporter offers first and only judgment supporting Israeli side: ‘Nevertheless, some of material in report appears potentially damaging to Palestinians, and could hurt their standing in international public opinion.’”

In light of spurious claims of Palestinian sovereignty to begin with, and growing evidence of Arafat’s ongoing commitment to destruction of Israel and her people through any and all means, this cannot be viewed as balanced reporting.

If U.S. had credible evidence to believe that a certain rogue Islamic leader was responsible for a terrorist campaign of murder and destruction against America and her people, what would we do? How long would we wait? We’ve already begun to live this. And we did exactly right thing. Without delay. We mounted an army, with support from many free world governments, against that leader and his followers. We bombed them, shot them, chased and arrested them and shipped them to Guantanamo Bay. And if we had their leader trapped in his compound, we would not even consider letting him out and setting him up as a “partner for peace”.

One of life’s strangest ironies is that people of two of world’s three major monotheistic religions, sharing teachings of Abraham, continue this history of bloodshed. They are brother tribes, both Semites, descendants of Shem. (Despite consistent misuse of term, “anti-semitic” refers to hatred of Arab and Jew alike.) Brothers and sisters, whose bickering has gone obscenely far beyond sibling rivalry.