Sharm el-Sheikh's Vision Of a Future Palestine.

The article author presents his views on the Sharm el-Sheikh summit between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on February 8. Following the meet, the media were full of congratulations and fantasies of peace. The bitter reality, however, is that nothing has changed in the lives of most Palestinians. Israel offers "disengagement" from Gaza with the left hand, while its right hand grabs more West Bank land, continues to imprison Palestinians behind its apartheid wall, advances its political access to and normalization of relations with other Arab nations, and reaches a formal and internationally accepted agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Unlike the principled stand of the New Zealand government, Palestine's Arab neighbors are eager to send their ambassadors back to Israel, and are using the "success" of Sharm el-Sheikh as a pretext to do so.