Both Prime Minister Sharon and Chairman Arafat owe it to their own people to provide the Arab League meeting in Lebanon with an opportunity to deliberate Crown Prince Abdullah's peace proposal in an environment not poisoned by the mounting body count. President Bush's belated decision to change his strategy and take a more active role to end the bloodshed is welcome. We must exert all necessary pressure on Sharon and Arafat to prevent the premature death of the peace initiative because of the continuing violent extremism. If there is a time for the three leaders to demonstrate leadership, that time is now.

Whatever motivated Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to propose a general formula for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace, the proposal and its timing are extremely significant and warrant serious consideration by all affected parties. The proposed peace plan, however, will not work unless a number of conditions involving the Saudis, Israelis, Palestinians and the United States are first established.

I have been following and writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for more than two decades.I have never been more saddened and enraged about the senseless and tragic waste of human life and for what? This is not a rhetorical question because try as they may to change the ultimate outcome Israel and the Palestinians will fail. The only viable solution is staring them in the face–a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state, to be established on the West Bank and Gaza, coexisting peacefully side-by-side. The Israelis and the Palestinians are simply stuck with one another. They can either live in peace and dignity or slug it out until they lose what is left of their humanity.

The past 18 months of dehumanizing violence between Israel and the Palestinians might have forced Arafat to give up his demand for repatriation of the Palestinian refugees, a demand that torpedoed the Camp David negotiations in the summer of 2000. This critical shift in policy has begun to have a revitalizing effect on the Israeli peace now movement. These developments, if carefully nurtured by the United States, could finally usher in an agreement based on a two states solution.

Much has been said in reaction to President Bush's characterization in his State of the Union address of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the "axis of evil." An overwhelming consensus here at home and abroad seems to have emerged that the president's characterization is, at best, misguided. Lumping all three nations together as if we could deal with them on equal terms only undermines our national interest and the war against terrorism.

The Arab world will probably never be the same as it was before September 11th. The question is what kind of changes will we witness? Will they be the type of changes geared toward meeting public yearnings for human rights, freedoms, better social and economic conditions and personal security or will they be cosmetic and therefore only intensify the social and political discontent leading to political instability and escalating violence.

Intifadah II has been nothing but a disaster for the Palestinian people and their national goal. Its extreme militancy and timing (in the wake of Camp David) made it seem to be not only a protest against the Israeli occupation, but a challenge to Israel's very existence. As a result the political and military rules of engagement between Israel and the Palestinians were dramatically altered.

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.

It is time for the United States to realize that the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, has outlived his usefulness and continuing to support him will be to the detriment of Israeli-Palestinian peace. The notion that he is the lesser among evils and that the chaotic conditions within the Palestinian community make him indispensable is simply unfounded. Arafat himself has brought about the current mayhem, and only his departure will offer the possibility of restoring sanity to Israeli-Palestinian relations.