LONDON -- One of the stronger arguments for regime change in Iraq was that it would pave the way for a settlement, at last, in the unending dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, and that this in turn would remove one of the main motivations for global terrorism.
Hopes rose that this might indeed be in prospect when the Americans agreed to the publication of a "road map" to peace between the two combatants, and when U.S. President George W. Bush said he would intervene personally with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
They were boosted even further when discredited Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat appeared to cede some authority to new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and when embattled Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon stated that Israel agreed to the road map and, even more significantly, agreed with the aim of creating a separate Palestinian state on the West Bank.