Time to Give Up on Palestine

President Bush is determined to continue with the peace process between Israel and Palestine. While I can see that this would be a big legacy-builder, I think he's wasting his time. The Palestinians have proven time and time again that they're not interested in peace. Electing Hamas to run their government in 2006 was one of the clearer signs that this is the case.

Part of pushing the peace process, of course, is to send cash to the Palestinian leaders, since they are incapable of setting up a functioning economy. And now we're sending them even more. Most of this money goes into the pockets of corrupt leaders. Yasser Arafat was worth an estimated $300 million, and you know he didn't earn that through shrewd business ventures.

With that kind of largess coming in, no wonder Palestinian leaders don't want peace. That and their burning hatred of Israel, of course. Also, Israel provides the Muslim world a ready excuse. Economic trouble in Iran? Blame Israel. No economy whatsoever in Palestine? Blame Israel. Civil war between Hamas and Fatah? Blame Israel. If peace was achieved, who else would they blame?

Actually, I can answer that. They'd blame Britain for knighting Salman Rushdie. They'd blame Denmark for mildly offensive cartoons. They'd blame the pope for making accurate comments about them.

But like I said, Bush should give up on this fool's errand. He should spend his time appointing more judges and closing the border.