If the latest incidents of Palestinian savagery aren't enough to dent the iron skulls of Arafat's fellow travellers, ahem, that would be you, Mr. Goff, then nothing ever will be. There will be nothing like peace until Arafat, the Fatah Gang, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are gone, disappeared, sharing cave space with what's left of bin Laden. Do not waste time trying to ride a non-existent "cycle of violence" along the roadmap. The cycle is trotted out by journalists and academics who are too lazy to think.

The stated goal of the Palestinian thugocracy is the murder of every single Jew in the Middle East, the sacred duty of the Israeli government is to prevent that by any means necessary. Why do politicans persist in wishing that it were otherwise? Why do people who believe everything else that the Arafat clique says or, for that matter, everything the Israelis say, refuse to take either of them at their word on this point?

There is no more a cycle of violence than there is between the United States and al-Qaeda, or between police and criminals anywhere. Repeat after me, Arafat does not want peace. He wants his state, he wants it from the river to the sea, and he wants it born in fire and blood, not in compromise. The Israelis for their part will take peace if they can get it and still keep breathing, but will fight if they cannot.