honestly, insane

These things would sound insane coming from anybody:

"Not only was my soul uplifted, but my knowledge of history was enriched," said *******, who also commented on the barriers in the area.

"Someday I hope that as a result of the formation of a Palestinian state that there won't be walls and checkpoints -- people will be able to move freely in a democratic state."

"******* met with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank on Thursday, predicting that a Middle East peace treaty would be signed by 2009."

honestly. no matter who said that, i would have no choice but to laugh. the only reason why the Palestinian Territories are not in the middle of a civil war right now is because they are not a state. also, they find it more useful to kill Israelis instead of each other.

the Palestinian Territories have two presidents right now, neither of which recognizes the other. one of those presidents is the leader of the Hamas party, a violent terrorist organization. according to some accounts, this party won the popular vote and the other president (the one western leaders prefer to meet with) is actually attempting to usurp the democratic process.

so, even if we ignored Israel entirely and were just trying to claim that the Palestinian Territories could function as a state, we would have to be entirely ignorant of the situation, unreformable optimists, or insane.

add to this the fact that rockets are shot from the territories into Israel on at least a weekly basis and the disbelief factor goes through the roof. in terms of their economy, infrastructure, international standing, and any other measure of importance, the territories are defined by their relationship with Israel. take Israel away from the Territories and you lose electricity, running water, and the few remaining employment possibilities. you are left with small sections of sand and rock, valuable only as a place to launch attacks against Israel with guns or propaganda.

i do believe that there will eventually be peace in the region. i do not believe that a Palestinian state by 2009 has any role in the process of moving towards that peace. their first act would be to declare war on Israel.

as it happens, our president was the one who made those statements.