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A New "New Mideast"

(New York Times) Thomas Friedman - President Bush has been right to stipulate to the new Palestinian leadership that there will be no Palestinian state unless it can deliver real security to Israel. But Mr. Bush also has to make clear to Israelis that no Palestinian Authority will be able to deliver that security unless the Palestinian people believe they're going to get a real state in return. Palestinians have to want to get rid of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as military groups for their own reasons. You cannot build a new state with parties who believe that it is O.K. to take the flower of Palestinian youth, wrap them in dynamite, and have them blow themselves up in Israeli pizza parlors. Nothing normal can come from that. When you see Palestinians ready to take on the extremists in their midst because they are a cancer on the Palestinians' own future, then you can legitimately start to speak again about a "new Middle East."
2003-07-30 00:00:00
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