After declaring that he would meet Mr. Arafat very soon to put an end to the escalating violence, Mr Sharon has retracted his statement and decided that the Intifada should stop before he makes such a move. He thinks that the time is not yet ripe for it. Moreover, Mr Peres no longer insists that the negotiations with the Palestinians should start from where they ended when Mr Barak was in office and says that everything should start from scratch. For our Palestinian brethren, it all sounds like a game - lethal game, the rules of which abruptly change once they have figured out how to play. Of course it is important for Mr Sharon to show that the cycle of violence can end. After all, he came to power on the ticket of security and ending it. And it is also very important for Mr Sharon to show that the cycle of violence should end so that the dream of a Palestinian state can be pursued. However, one can only wonder if it is in the interest of Mr Sharon that the Intifada ends peacefully? And whether it is in the interest of Mr Arafat to show that the Intifada can be controlled with a push of a button?

It would be reasonable to say that the collapse of the Palestinian Authority institutions will lead to a major conflict in the area, since the geographical and demographic balance will shift the concentration towards the PA's immediate neighbors. of the PNA. Besides, co-existence within the Israeli Government is likely to go through a phase of high tension once the political differences between its components start surfacing when diplomacy replaces the use of violence. What is going on currently in the PA and among its neighbors does not indicate that there are any future prospects for final status negotiations. The results of the Israeli "Hundred Days" operation clearly aim at separating the towns of the West Bank - a starting point for the creation of "Bantustans". Therefore, the creation of isolated areas on the West Bank without territorial links between them seems to be the new basis for negotiations totally unrelated to the final status issue. Here, the Israeli operation facilitates on the ground the purpose of negotiations in stages about the future of the Palestinian state. It is becoming increasingly obvious that negotiation in stages will be the program of the Sharon government, providing of course it does not collapse before it has attained its objectives. The PA should be prepared to ensure that its institutions don't collapse financially. In peace, the question is not that of winners and losers, but of partners. So can we say that the PA and the Sharon Government are partners in peace?