We Got Spasms in the Middle East

Condo Rice has a way with words--we don't want anymore "spasms" in the Middle East, that's the reason for not having a cease-fire right away. We got two fanatical positions in the Middle East--obliterate Israel on the one hand and keep the settlements in the West Bank on the other, along with keeping Jerusalem etc. With both sides entrenched as they are and the questioned legitimacy of Israel in Palestine there is no real solution to the Middle East problem. The Arabs aren't going to accept Israel no matter what, and how long can the Israelis bleed? There aren't enough Israelis to hold all the ground in the ME even if they could take it all. The U.S. unquestionable siding with the Israelis just makes the situation worse because all it does is polarize any moderates we might hope to win over to a peaceable solution. The big culprit in the ME is oil. It is what gives the Arabs the backbone and means to implement and spread terror in the ME and around the world. Without oil money the Arabs would be back to selling fruit and camels and sitting under tents in the sand. The solution should be clear--develop alternatives to oil. If we had some real representative government in this country we could do it in short order--as it is we get propaganda and more power to the oil companies--spasms indeed!