Can Bush notice the Palestinian olive branch?: "The Palestine problem, a legacy of Western colonialism as virulent today as it ever was, has always been the greatest single source of anti-Western sentiment in the region.... The history of the conflict so far is one massive Zionist gain versus proportionate Palestinian loss. If the Palestinians were to secure the redress that other colonized peoples have earned, there would either be no Israel - just as there is no French Algeria - or Israel would be a binational state - like South Africa - in which it would lose its exclusively Jewish identity. But the Palestinians are not demanding that. They have formally committed themselves, via Oslo, to the loss of 78 percent of their original homeland. If there ever is a settlement, this concession, unique in the history of European decolonization, would rank as by far the greatest contribution to it. Moreover, it was under Arafat's auspices that the Palestinians made it."

Can Bush notice the Palestinian olive branch?: "The Palestine problem, a legacy of Western colonialism as virulent today as it ever was, has always been the greatest single source of anti-Western sentiment in the region.... The history of the conflict so far is one massive Zionist gain versus proportionate Palestinian loss. If the Palestinians were to secure the redress that other colonized peoples have earned, there would either be no Israel - just as there is no French Algeria - or Israel would be a binational state - like South Africa - in which it would lose its exclusively Jewish identity. But the Palestinians are not demanding that. They have formally committed themselves, via Oslo, to the loss of 78 percent of their original homeland. If there ever is a settlement, this concession, unique in the history of European decolonization, would rank as by far the greatest contribution to it. Moreover, it was under Arafat's auspices that the Palestinians made it."