Israel gets bombed, acts stoned

I dunno which is worse. The five suicide bombings in 24 hours or Ariel Sharon's using it as an excuse to get out of negotiations? The bombings were more violent, but Sharon's stance is going to cost more lives in the long run.

NYTimes reports that the militant group Hamas, which opposes any negotiations with Israel, said its members carried out the previous four bombings, but no one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack in Afula, 75 miles north of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, an earlier article reports that Sharon's office "implicitly repudiated the new international peace plan." So on one side we have the U.S., E.U., UN, PLO and moderate Arab states supporting negotiations. On the other side are Sharon's government, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and extremist Arab states against negotiations. Is it just me, or is Sharon on the wrong side of this debate? Clearly, his party is an obstacle to the U.S. master plan for the region, and should be removed immediately.