Second Intifada: Who wins?

The US Secretary of State asks:

"What has it accomplished for the Palestinian people?" Powell asked. "Has it produced progress toward a Palestinian state? Has it defeated Israel on the battlefield?"

No. Israel was not defeated on the battlefield. Israel was not defeated in any way that really matters.

But.

Israel is now more than ever before a pariah. And even though the Americans pay lipservice to fighting terrorism even when they are 'Palestinians', in practice any and every action Israel takes in response to acts of terrorism puts the Israeli's more on the defensive. So the Arabs gain ground.

An example of this is the ruling of the kangaroo court in The Hague (aka ICJ). No matter that a majority of judges on this esteemed panel comes from non-democratic countries. No matter that Arabs are allowed to sit in judgment of Israel. The International Community treats this ruling as if it actually has meaning, and takes action against Israel accordingly. Any pretext will do, you know.

So it's nice of Powell to declare a Palestinian state for all intents and purposes a non-starter:

At the same time, Powell said President George W. Bush desperately wants to help create a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people to live side-by-side in peace with Israel.

"This will only come about when terror is ended," he said. "And the intifada has spawned terrorism and it has not achieved anything in these years."

In the meantime, Powell said, the economy of the Palestinian people has deteriorated as well as life in general for the Palestinians, while Israel has built a fence to screen out attackers.

But there's no denying that Israel's position in the world has become more isolated, more damned. The fact that this was achieved through horrible and needless sacrifice means nothing to the despotic ruler of the Arab Palestinians. It simply doesn't touch him or his cronies at all.