From today's Washington Post:

"The Bush administration has begun planning for an international peace conference on the Middle East early this summer to accelerate negotiations over a final political settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians..."

International peace conference. Who would we invite? The sneering Europeans, who still think of Arafat as some sort of aging rock star? The Arab dictatorships, who collectively have refused to condemn Palestinian suicide bombings? Perhaps the Chinese, who tsk-tsked American imperialism as the root cause of the 9/11 attacks, or our friends the Russians, who have supplanted the Germans as chief armory for Iran's nuclear weapons program.

The surest way to ensure a lack of peace is to make it the focus of an international conference, or a stinking conference, for that matter. But that's not what cheeses me most about this story. Check out this language: "a final political settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians..."

News flash: if there ever is a final settlement, it won't be political. Either Muslim brutes in the surrounding monarchies will muster the courage to set about what they make no secret of desiring, which is to cut the throat of every Jew in Israel, or Israelis will resort with one mind to the ruthlessness required to cripple their mortal enemies. And after the blood has soaked into the ground -- no matter whose blood it is -- the politicians will swoop in, with their grand pronouncements and self-serving speeches, and announce "Peace at last."

I suspect most of the people behind the perpetual international hand-wringing over Israel know this. The purpose of such a meeting isn't to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, it is two-fold: to bring peace to the consciousness of Westerners who want not to feel bad about desiring their own selfish peace with oil-rich thugs; and to provide legitimacy to the cancerous hatred that has permeated nearly every corner of those regimes. Contrast the latter reality with this observation of a Bush Administration official:

"A Palestinian state must be based on the principles that are critical to freedom and prosperity: democracy and open markets, the rule of law, transparent and accountable administration, and respect for individual liberties and civil society."

The problem is that such a state would no longer be Palestinian, or even fundamentally Muslim, for that matter. How are we going to politic and conference our way to that?