The analyst for The New Republic adds to the despair he feels over the disintegration of the road map the matter of a U.S. election coming up. If we can understand that Sharon can't make his way around the right wing that refuses to compromise on the settlements, we should be able to understand that a president seeking re-election is not likely to act in such a way as to put U.S. loyalty to Israel into question. Howard Dean was all but eaten alive when he suggested that pressure should be imposed equally on Israel and Palestine to get on with a working modus vivendi.
What might an American government do? The idea of a fence -- a wall -- is understandable, even commendable. An Israeli official has said, Look, we have had no terrorist penetrations where the wall is built! But the question isn't the wall; it is the shape of the wall. As projected, and already in part erected, it makes enclaves of the settlements so brusque as to leave some Palestinian farmers removed from their own land. What is inconceivable, given the design of the wall, is any future Palestinian state contiguous in shape. And the implications of it invoke apartheid, either an immobilization of the Palestinian world, or its assimilation in subordinate civil status.
But if real pressure were put on Israel to retrench on the settlements, what could the United States offer? Quite a lot. A guarantee of the survival of Israel. This can't mean the end of terrorist activity. Nothing can ensure that, but it is best confronted with a confidence that justice is being sought.