What Ariel Sharon seems to tragically dismiss as mere Palestinian rhetoric rather than a prerequisite to any solid peace settlement with the Palestinians are the repeated Palestinian calls for an end to Israel's illegal occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem.

Not that anyone expects the likes of General Sharon, or Texas cowboy George W. Bush for that matter, to actually possess the slightest understanding of international relations and of today's political reality in the region, but for two years now, it seems clear that no military solution by Israel, no matter how brutal and uncompromising, will achieve any results with a captive Palestinian population, bent on realising its legitimate rights to live in freedom, prosperity, and peace, in accordance with international law.

During a recent interview with Israeli Television, Sharon stated that he sees "…for the first time the possibility of an agreement with the Palestinians." Nevertheless, Sharon's misleading interpretation of the past month, in which no Israelis were killed inside Israel, is that Israeli military might and his own machiavellian-like policies towards the Palestinians has finally bore fruit, and that the Palestinians are finally realising that violence will not achieve any results with Israel.

Tragically, the lessons of history do not seem to reach Sharon, and his radical government, with shattering consequences to both the Palestinian and Israeli people. The international community and, above all, Israeli society must actually realise that Israel's two-year campaign of state terrorism against the Palestinians only managed to provoke further violence and bloodshed? If anything, it seems to reinforce the sanity of political dialogue and the legality of the Palestinian cause.