The United States, and only the United States, is the final political arbiter between Israel and the Palestinians, for only we have the power to stop the current ferocious cycle of mutual destruction. Unfortunately, up until now the Bush administration has shown no vision for peace, no determin

The momentum generated by Crown Prince Abdullah's peace proposal, the United Nation's resolution calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the Bush administration's renewed commitment to end the violence, coupled with the growing internal Israeli as well as Palestinian pressure on their respective authorities to halt the escalating violence, could produce a cease-fire that will subsequently lead to political negotiations.

The year 2001 will especially be remembered for the unforgiven attack on our way of life, with the images of the destruction of the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon defining our new perspective of ourselves and our nation. We can now allow ourselves to focus on the events of September 11, wage a successful war to eradicate the perpetrators, and be satisfied to end there or, use the war as a means to realize a broad international agenda that has the potential to yield far- reaching benefits globally.

The question that has been much talked about in recent weeks is whether there is or there should be any connection between the war on terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Those who claim there is no linkage are simply wrong. If a direct linkage did not exist before September 11th, it does now.

The question that has been asked most frequently in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack of September 11 is why America is hated so intensely, so much so that individuals are motivated to kill indiscriminately and in the process die without hesitation. A number of reasons can provide the "

Our historical experiences and the increasing pervasiveness and sophistication of terrorist organizations make it abundantly clear that the solution to international terrorism is far from simple. The war against terrorism will be long, protracted and costly both in terms of human lives and materials

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The third and final phase of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations is expected to be more difficult and intractable than the previous rounds that led to the Oslo agreements and the eventual redeployment of Israeli troops from Hebron.

The United States policy of containing Iran has run its course. Given the geopolitical changes that have swept the Middle East since the Gulf war, continuing on that course would not only destabilize our allies, but undermine our strategic interests in the region. The Clinton administration must now change its adversarial policy toward Iran and initiate a process of "passive engagement" that could lead to normalization of relations between the two countries.