To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (21837 ) 3/20/2002 10:06:29 PM From: Hawkmoon Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 281500 Yeah... But the UN has a greater stake in this peace treaty, especially given the recent times. Should the UN fail to step up to the plate, after all the nasty resolutions they have issued against Israel over the years, it would be a signal that they lack the resolve to enforce their words. Of course, we all know that those UN troops will have to consist of US, European, and other nations participating. And few of them will have any stomach for participating. Thus, the UN leadership will have to be even more resolute in order to preserve any remaining "raison d'etre" to the organization. After all, if the US is the only nation that can achieve and maintain such peace treaties, why do we need the UN? And if the UN fails to contain Palestinian extremism, it will suffer even more humiliation, to the point where they will pull out (as they have almost every time before), and Israel will have free rein to deal with the intransigent Palestinian authorities, state to state. That's why, if Israel's primary goal is to actually live in peace with the Palestinians eventually, they may have to show they are willing to suffer short-term humiliation kow-towing to Arafat and his thugs, in order the gain the long-term moral high ground when it likely becomes evident that Arafat has no idea how to govern and develop a nation, only create how to create turmoil and rhetoric. One thing's likely for sure... Israel is not going to agree to a peace treaty unless it's assured that SOMEONE is going to guarantee their security against this arbitrarily imposed hostile Palestinian state. I wouldn't Hawk