BEIRUT -- Following the hammer blows of the Palestinian intifada and Israeli repression, Palestinian reforms are the great new prescription for Middle East peacemaking, which is to be directed by an international conference.
Rarely has there been such a show of unanimity. Everybody wants reform: Israelis and Americans, Palestinians and Arabs. For who, in principle, could object to the desirable things that reform would bring -- democracy, due process, accountability, an end to corruption?
Unfortunately, it is an outward unanimity only. The truth is that the Palestinians most sincerely seek them. For the Israelis, and in varying degrees the Americans and Arab regimes, reforms are just a means and a cover for altogether less exalted ends.