Well, what does the future hold for the Palestinians? How can self-determination be achieved? This is a question that should disturb us, but too often this question, at the very core of the Middle East conflict, is swept away by the mechanics of war, of peace, of oil and of troop disengagement. Such irony is hard to stomach and is a bare reward for those many Palestinians of varying political beliefs who support the involvement of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the Geneva peace talks and speak encouragingly about a separate Palestine state.

The idea of such a state needs to be scrutinized against the backgrounds of both Israeli and Jordanian policies regarding the Palestinians, in order to understand fully why these policies are quite inadequate and why it is impossible to imagine a Palestinian state linked either to Israel or Jordan. The idea of an independent state pinned between Israel and Jordan is acceptable only with radical changes and concessions—from Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians alike—that will ensure peace and harmony from border to border.