Stardate 20020226.1846

(On Screen): So the Saudis have supposedly proposed that in exchange for Israel pulling back from the entire West Bank and Gaza strip, to the 1967 borders, all the Arab nations would normalize relations with Israel and begin normal trade. The proposal is something of a pig-in-a-poke and it is incomplete. First problem is that Israel has to make all its concessions first and then only later see if the Arabs follow through (which they probably wouldn't). Second is that it doesn't say just how Israel could be guaranteed security from further attacks by renegade Palestinian terrorist groups.

So this proposal in its current form is preposterous, and I don't think that the Sharon government expects anything of it. But the fact that the offer was made allows the Sharon government to score points and win a victory. They can call the Saudi bluff. To even discuss it at all represents recognition of the Israeli government by Saudi Arabia. And if Israel handles it properly, it can force the Saudis, or some other Arab nation, to back out first and be the bad guy when it fails to result in an agreement.