In an innovative and daring announcement, he said that if he could not reach an agreement with Hamas within ten days, he would put the referendum for a two-state solution of Palestine side-by-side with Israel before the Palestinian public, thus rejuvenating his own stymied agenda while providing a face-saving way for Hamas to slip off the hardline hook it has inserted in its own pants and get to the negotiating table.



No doubt his was prompted by the growing inability of his government to function without Western funding, as well as by Ehud Olmert's announcement that Israel could not wait forever and would, if it could not negotiate with a credible Palestinian government, impose its own final borders.

But you still have to give the guy credit for his insight and daring.

We wish him well and, of course, safe passage among the ever treacherous and ultimately self-destructive holdouts who populate his surroundings.