Thankfully for those wishing to avoid uncomfortable topics of discussion, the recent presidential elections in the United States have reduced scrutiny of the current situation in the Middle East to a smattering of articles in The New York Times. These have incidentally been complemented by a recent three-part series on the members of "God's Army."

The series again illustrates that Arabs are probably only concerned with terrorism and backwardness, being unable even to accept the incredibly generous peace offerings of President Clinton, who, in his latest attempt to mediate, managed somehow to forget the four million Palestinian refugees still awaiting justice.

Gone also are the articles of continued Israeli atrocities in the region against Palestinian civilians, not to mention the economic warfare, and current "restrictions" being implemented throughout the West Bank and Gaza, which have effectively turned the occupied territories into an Arab South Africa.

Looking forward, advocates of peace will be happy to know that Ariel Sharon, a man found by the Israeli Kahan Commission to be mostly responsible for the Shatila and Sabra massacres in 1983, is likely to be the next prime minister of Israel. Sharon, just this Wednesday, was quoted in Ha'aretz, the Israeli daily, as promising to never relinquish Israeli "settlements" in the Gaza Strip. In other words, the occupation of Palestinian land continues.

No doubt, Israeli "security" will nonetheless be far more secure against hordes of teenagers armed with stones. They are somehow incapable of understanding their place in the international order that is displaced. Reluctance to accept this "fact" will no doubt hamper the "peace process" for years to come.