CIA Director George Tenet is in the region on yet another attempt to broker a Palestinian-Israeli "ceasefire." Having already met with Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon, Tenet is now scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

Tenet's mission seems to complement Washington's "vision" for peace in the Middle East: a US-Israeli imposed reality on the Palestinian people which will negate the most basic imperatives for a just solution to the Palestinian question. Not an end to Israeli occupation, not an end to Israeli massacres against Palestinian refugees, and not an Israeli recognition of the Palestinian people's right to exist in freedom and peace, but a delusional perspective which will allow Israel's radical right wing government the free hand to dictate Palestinian actions, thinking, policies, and aspirations.

While the Palestinian leadership and people have clearly committed themselves to radical reform in the Palestinian National Authority, it must be clear to both the Israeli and US leaderships that the precondition for such reform is an end to occupation; a full Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories to facilitate the process of restructuring.

What the Tenet mission seems to lack is an understanding of the Palestinian reality. Washington's "vision" is only comparable to a lucid dream, whereby the US administration (with the advice of Ariel Sharon's government) is dwelling into the world of wild imagination, the world of envisaging a new (unworkable) reality.

Tenet's mission is doomed to failure, not least for its willful undermining of the imperatives of peace, and its shallow interpretation of key elements in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.