I was watching CNN interview Palestinians about the appointment of Abu Mazen.

I'd like to tell Mr. Bush, and Mr. Powell, the following sad truth: If you are forcing Israel to accept a cosmetic change in the terrorist regime of Yasir Arafat to placate the so-called Palestinians and their supporters, you are going to be sadly disappointed.

The Palestinians, it seems, according to their "man in the street" brought to you by CNN, is not happy with Abu Mazen. The Palestinians long for their fearless leader, the one that has stolen their money, killed their children, put them into poverty-stricken hovels that the Israelis have no choice but to blow up every other day because they are making little bombs, and big bombs, inside apartment houses.

"I think we should be allowed to decide our leadership, and not the Israelis and the Americans," a shopkeeper huffed to CNN. Now, if I were a reporter, I'd ask what has been so wonderful about past Palestinian choices? I mean, these people chose, of their own free will, to support the monster Saddam Hussein - twice! They chose Yasser Arafat, and guess what, folks... they still want him! Even the cosmetic change of the Holocaust denier prime minister, and the perpetrator of the Kfar Darom crime against humanity (Mohammad Dahlan's men blew up a school bus) isn't enough to convince them to give up Yasser. No sir.

And, as we all know, the Palestinian people deserve to get what they want. And get what they deserve.

What I don't understand is why, and how, my government is back to square one considering "gestures" of good will to bolster Abu Mazen and make him more acceptable to the Palestinians.

I would think, if there is a crisis of confidence here about further "agreements" that call for Israel to give up its security patrols amidst dozens of terrorist alerts every single day, then the good will gestures to inspire renewed confidence should be coming from the Palestinians. I'm not a politician, just an ordinary Israeli who has witnessed the bloody aftermath of gesture after goodwill gesture on the part of Israel to the terrorist-state-in-the-making that will, God forbid, be called Palestine. I would like one good reason, Mr. Bush, Mr. Powell, to believe that this time the Palestinians can be trusted. I would like a good will gesture on their part.

I have a few in mind:

1. Cessation of terror videos encouraging murder;

2. Rounding up of illegal weapons in one Palestinian city; and
3. The replacement of anti-Semitic school books in one Palestinian school.

What about a good-will gesture from the Palestinians to us for a change? If the people involved in forcing this plan down our throats really wanted to achieve peace, they would insist on all these things before talks began. The complete absence of discussion on these subjects is revealing.

The Road Map is the way Europe gets its own back against America. We should not be helping them spread this myth. We should be fighting, kicking and screaming, every step of the way.
-------------------------------------------------
Naomi Ragen is a best-selling novelist and columnist who has lived in Israel since 1971. More of her writings can be seen at www.naomiragen.com.