But having lived through a half-century of hostilities, Sharon understands that empowering a group of people that has been openly hostile to Israel for the last 50 years will prove more, not less, disastrous for Israel down the road. Consider what happened when America empowered Egypt and, before it, Iraq. The empowerment of these nations has at various times threatened to pull apart the entire balance of power in the Middle East.

A rushed peace accord will bring more of the same. Simply, the inhabitants of the Middle East must wish to integrate. Cultural configurations must be geared toward integration. And this will only even emerge as a possibility after the infrastructure of the Palestinian authority is reconfigured to discourage acts of terrorism.

Until that day, there can be no roadmap.