Madness in the Mideast

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: There has been a long lapse in the diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians, but, sadly, not a very long lapse in the violence. On Wednesday, a 22-year-old Palestinian woman, the mother of two small children, walked into a checkpoint between Israel and Gaza and set off a bomb, killing herself and four Israeli border guards. It is as sure as sunset tonight that, absent some kind of communication between top Israeli and Palestinian leaders, there will be more bombings and more death. And soon.
Since taking office in October, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has yet to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon even though Sharon has proposed such talks. In the resulting vacuum, events have been allowed to drift.
The Wednesday suicide bombing was the first since a blast killed four people outside Tel Aviv on Dec. 25, and more bombings were promised by a leader of Hamas, a terrorist group that until Wednesday had temporarily suspended them.
Sharon has threatened a "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians if negotiations continue to founder. This means Israel will finish building a controversial fence between itself and territories occupied by Palestinians in the hope of shielding itself from terror attacks.
Violence finds a way
But Wednesday's bombing along the Israeli-Gaza border proved that a fence cannot provide complete protection for Israel. If another suicide bomber does not sneak through the barrier, a mortar shot probably will fly over it. Somehow, if violence is intended, the barrier will be breached. It is partly for this reason that Secretary of State Colin Powell and many others have stressed that there is no substitute for a political solution to the violence.
Desperation, meantime, is hardly conducive to an improving situation. On Thursday, the Palestinian parliament approved a budget of $1.69 billion for the year, more than twice projected revenues, in the hope that foreign aid will somehow make up the deficit. Foreign help in such amounts seems unlikely, given the widely perceived corruption in Palestinian accounts. Whatever the reasons, the economic miseries are sure to worsen the frustration and misery that feeds terrorism.
The immediate consequence of Wednesday's bombing will be tightened security between Israel and Gaza, making it even harder for Palestinian workers to get to their jobs in Israel. Qureia is said to be a savvy politician, and he presumably cares for the Palestinians he leads. It's past time for him to take up Sharon's offer and sit down at the bargaining table.