DISAGREEING WITH DR. RICE

Is Condi's 'I Think I Know It' Enough? (NYSUN)
"Ms. Rice and I disagreed on the issue of a Palestinian state," Cal Thomas writes in a dispatch carried in today's New York Sun.

I think the Palestinians want the state to obliterate Israel, the proof being the five wars fought by Arab states, terrorism, and the continuing anti- Israel rhetoric from mosques and media throughout the region.

According to Ms. Rice, "The great majority of the [Palestinian] people just want a better life. I just don't believe mothers want their children to grow up to be suicide bombers. I think mothers want their children to grow up to go to university. And if you can create the right conditions, that's what people are going to do."

I asked if she just thinks this, or does she know it?

"I think I know it," she said.

"Do you think you know it because you want to believe it, or do you think you know it because of conversations with [them]?"

Ms. Rice admits to having had "lots of conversations with Palestinians," but then added: "If human beings don't want a better future, don't want their children to grow up in peace and have opportunities, then none of this is going to work anyway."

Exactly right. But their definition of "peace" and "opportunities" are different from ours. We cannot transpose (or impose) our morality on those who don't share it. And the propaganda, religious teachings, and historical revisionism coming from every pore of the Palestinian structure convinces me they mean it and regard the State Department view over several administrations as self-delusional.