Nothing could make me happier than proven wrong about the "road map to peace" being peddled by Bush and forced on Sharon. I wish I could share my colleague's guarded and informed optimism but, regrettably, I cannot.

O.K. "forced" is too strong a word but what choice, really, does Sharon have? I don't believe he could really tell Bush, I trust you as a man of your word. No American president has shown himself more dedicated to Israel and its people. We Israelis are heartened by your resolve to go ahead and bring down Saddam Hussein's regime despite intense world-wide condemnation. We see in you a man and a leader who has no illusions about terrorism. Yet, we feel that negotiating with the Palestinians is a bit premature at this time. You are asking us to relax our guard after suffering, for thirty-two months now, the worst terrorist attacks in our history. We will sit this one out.

Fat chance. Much to its own peril, Israel once again becomes the handmaiden of an American president's quixotic quest for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And this president can get away with it, even after Clinton's humiliating debacle at Camp David. Bush has acquired an enormous amount of political capital internationally, great even for an American president and despite world-wide anti-Americanism. His victory in Iraq has given him a triumphant presidency, remisicent of Reagan's. Bush has demonstrated his resolve in toppling the Taliban, weakening Al Queda internationally, and enduring almost overwhelming international pressure not to follow through with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Bush's portfolio of word and deed has given him such power he can even fake a love-in with Jacques Chirac in Evian. It is no wonder Bush now has the clout to press his needs on Sharon. Of course, his recently acquired political capital can be easily squandered.

There is no reason to believe, however, that the Arab world will see Bush as pressuing the Israelis. No, because it is a staple of anti-Jewish hatred to believe Israel and American Jews run the show and guide America's relationship with that country. Bush weighing in with Sharon will not be viewed as compromise on the part of either Israel or the United States. In fact, it will be perceived as weakness and invite the most vicious terrorism. While the terrorists are always wrong in their methods, they are right in their perception of appeasement as an invitation to murder.

Either Bush is being duped into believing things have changed under Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen or he is calculating something else. I have yet to read a cunningly perceptive take on what Bush could be up to. Is he doing what we think he's doing? Or is he doing something else? If the former, if he really is trying to have "peace in our time" between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it will mean more, to put it crudely, Jew-killing.

As Bush is not big on irony, unlike an Upper West Side Manhattan Liberal, we should take him at his word and believe he believes he can help achieve peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. If Bush pulls this off, it would be the biggest diplomatic bonanza won by an American president since Nixon in China. Clinton sought to crown his presidency with it. Carter tried to bring it closer to the table. In fact, in another irony, peace between Jews and Arabs is the Holy Grail of American diplomacy. Unfortunately, it may be one of the last Christian myths to die.

Peace will never come without defeat of the enemy. Not necessarily on the battlefield but in every venue and avenue possible until Islamist terrorism is defeated, completely to be discredited by Muslims themselves, and never to be resorted to on pain of severe reprisal.

This, at least, is how terrorism should be treated. Is Bush going wobbly? I doubt it, but he is misguided unless, as I've noted, he's up to something else. My colleague suggested to me verbally that perhaps Bush is pushing the envelope and if, this time, peace does not come and negotiations have led to more murder, then he, as a man of his word as demonstrated thus far, would withdraw his support of Palestinian independence until the true impediment to Palestinian statehood and the recognition of Israel's irrevocable right to exist is finally removed: Islamist terrorism itself.

Peace in our time doesn't seem possible any time soon. International Herald Tribune has this to say about the recent survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. And, at a time when the Israeli government has accepted the right of Palestinians to statehood, most Muslim populations surveyed believe by wide margins that the needs of Palestinians cannot be met so long as the state of Israel exists.

Now surveys are good as far as they go. The intense anti-Americanism felt world-wide is to be expected after the U.N. shenanigans and the subsequent invasion of Iraq. It will simmer down after a while, but not if Bush loses his resolve. To give a clue where that would lead, the ever charming Hamas has this to add:

"We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine," Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said. Islamic Jihad, another group sworn to Israel's destruction, followed suit.

Bush should be focusing more on Iran than the Israeli/Palestinian Holy Grail. Iran supports the very terrorist groups that seek Israel's destruction. Take out the root, the vine withers. Defeating Iran's ruling theocracy is absolutely crucial to winning the war against terrorism. It is a simple truth that bears reiterating: no peace in the Middle East whatsoever until Iran's terrorist state falls and a democracy is established. One hopes that both can be achieved by the Iranians themselves without military intervention by the United States, with the possible exception of taking out Iran's nuclear facilities. In fact, while the current issue of weapons of mass destruction in Saddam's Iraq is important, in any case the invasion will be proved necessary and just if it induces the destabilization of Iran and thereby change the political map of the Middle East.

There will be no peace as long as there is terrorism and Israel's right to exist is not acknowledged and honored. That means a change of heart, which, in turn, means forcing the enemy to surrender through sheer force. As the myth would have it, the true Grail is in one's heart, not an object to be coveted like a glorified junk bond. A change of heart is what is needed and is what is missing for peace in the Middle East. No amount of diplomacy can change the heart of Hamas. Such a possibility is as unreal as the Grail being a physical thing to hold in one's hand. The only way to peace, as with all terrorists, is to defeat them.

Perhaps Bush is doing the diplomatic dance to assuage the intense anti-Americanism and resentment throughout the world. With Saddam gone and waiting to see what to do in Iran, Bush is buying time with the Israeli/Palestinian "peace process."

This scenario would be the most cynical one of all. I hope it is not true. Because buying time means more terrorism and more destroyed innocent lives.