Palestinian's Version of "Catch 22"

Remember that old Joseph Heller book, Catch 22? It was about people trying to get out of the airforce during WWII. People were allowed to leave but there was only one catch and that was Catch-22:

"It specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle."

The Palestinians have a similar rule Catch 18. The premise behind this catch is that you have to be crazy to be a terrorist and kill innocent civilians, when you stop you are sane. When you are sane you see the world community reward terror, so you make the sane decision to start again. It all becomes an uncontrollable loop. This is what happened during Oslo, and this is what will happen with the Rice initiative. There will be no peace until the terrorist allow a change of rules:

Rice: Abbas, Olmert to meet biweekly on 'political horizon'
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 27, 2007

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to meet face-to-face on a biweekly basis, and that the US would continue to mediate between the two sides.

At a press conference at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, Rice said that the situation had become more complicated since the formation of the Palestinian unity government, as Hamas was blocking the process by its "continued unwillingness to commit itself" to the principles of the Quartet - namely, renouncing terror and recognizing Israel's right to exist.

The US secretary of state said that Abbas "truly desires to be a partner for peace," and that Olmert, like his predecessor Ariel Sharon, recognized that fact.

Rice said that the Israeli and Palestinian leaders will discuss a "political horizon," but added that the two sides are "not yet at final status negotiations."

On Monday, Rice met with both Abbas and Olmert, but postponed the press conference due to disagreements between the parties.

Rice also called on regional Arab states to "participate actively in the peace process" and do their part to reassure Israel that its position in the region would be "more, not less secure by ending the occupation and [accepting] the establishment of a Palestinian state."

She welcomed the Saudi peace initiative as "an example of such new thinking."

The US official noted that the American role would include helping the two sides to overcome obstacles, develop new ideas and solve problems. She added that in meetings with the two leaders, the US would discuss "the movement of passages and preventing rocket fire by terrorists."

Asked why she had waited until the morning to hold the press conference, Rice said on Tuesday that it was because she was more awake in the morning.