Arafat Must Go

All three are murderous terrorists. All three use unspeakable acts of cruelty to hurt the United States and Israel. And all three treat their own people like pawns in their egotistical dreams to gain more and more power and bring a revolution to the Middle East.

Yet the United States – especially since 9/11 – swore off dealing with terrorists. We refused any dialogue with Saddam's government; instead we eliminated it.

We supposedly are in a massive manhunt for Osama; certainly there is no chance of ever establishing any kind of 'relationship' with him or with al-Qaeda.

But Yasser Arafat – longtime devotee of suicide bombers as his main tool of disrupting the peace process with Israel – is

And this past weekend – just as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was preparing to fly to Washington for talks – another round of Arafat-ordered suicide bombers hit Israel and the Gaza Strip.

This is Arafat's signature: Whenever there is substantive progress on peace with Israel, Arafat purposively derails it with a secret order to resume the bombings.

Last year when Israel raided Arafat's headquarters, secret tape recordings were made public of Arafat telling one of his key henchmen, "When I say to you to stop the bombing, step on the gas."

This is typical of Arafat. In September 2000 a comprehensive deal was on the table to make a lasting peace that included an autonomous Palestinian State. Israeli's then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton had signed off on the deal.

What did Arafat do? He backed out and declared an

So, too, did Barak's government. Ariel Sharon – seemingly the PLO's worst nightmare – rose to unprecedented power and popularity as the bombings spread. In other words, Arafat's stupidity and stubbornness

Now, almost three years later, we again have a proposed deal – the U.S.-sponsored 'Road Map' – which will result in a Palestinian State. And what does Arafat do?

First he tries to block his own moderate Prime Minister Abu Mazen (Abbas) from taking the job. Then he tries to stop Mazen's induction by delaying the appointment of cabinet members.

When all of that fails and Secretary of State Colin Powell begins diplomatic talks with Mazen – and pointedly

And thus we have more bombings this weekend. Sharon's trip to D.C. is canceled. The 'Road Map' is delayed, if not ruined.

So, we come back to the original question: Why is Arafat treated with kid gloves while we tried to kill Saddam and Osama?

Clearly, as long as he is in power and on the scene, he will not allow any meaningful progress between Israel and the Palestinian people. And as long as this battle continues, it will continue to roil all of the Middle East.

Only with a true settlement of the differences between Israel and the Palestinians can progress be made throughout the Middle East. All of the Arab nations – and their dissenters – cite the Israeli-Palestinian problem as their No. 1 concern.

To his credit, President Bush – after ignoring this issue pre-9/11 – has awakened to the realization that we

And, in Ariel Sharon, the Arabs have another Menachem Begin: the

Everything is in place – the U.S., Sharon and Mazen. But there is still one problem: Arafat.

Until he is out of the picture, nothing will change.