This week, as Israel�s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with US President George Bush in Washington, he is likely to be presented with a vision of peace based on a "viable" independent PLO state in the West Bank and Gaza, existing side-by-side with a secure and defensible Israel. Such a vision not only represents a clear contradiction in terms, but is deeply flawed and would inevitably drag the whole Middle East into a much bigger conflagration. Particularly after the detailed documents just revealed on Yasser Arafat�s deep involvement as the Commander-in-Chief of Palestinian terror, any U.S. attempt to repackage him as a statesman and peace partner, besides making a sham out of the Bush Doctrine, would look as ludicrous as trying to fit Cinderella�s delicate slipper onto one of her ugly sisters� feet.

Firstly, in terms of borders, any independent PLO regime bordering on Israel�s narrow waistline, around Jerusalem and in the strategic Jordan valley, would render Israel militarily indefensible against possible Arab attack from both inside or outside the confines of Palestine.

Secondly, an independent PLO state with sovereign control of its borders, would inevitably turn itself into a stockpile of conventional and unconventional weapons. Think of a thousand Karine A�s, plus Iraqi-type mass-destruction capabilities only a few miles from Israel�s population centers, industrial and transportation hubs. There will be no way to guarantee against such a deadly threat and even the most comprehensive peace treaty will not be worth the paper it�s written on. No Israeli government can accept such existential risks, particularly in light of the disastrous outcome of the gambles recklessly undertaken by Israel�s Labor government in its haste to sign the Oslo agreements.

Thirdly, such a PLO state, if allowed to control the Jordan Valley, will inevitably turn itself toward an irredentist takeover of Jordan and overthrow the Hashemite regime - a dynasty imported from the Arabian Peninsula when Mandatory (or Greater) Palestine was divided into Western and Easten halves by the British in 1922. With the exception of its ruling dynasty and a loyal Bedouin core, the overwhelming majority of Jordan�s population consists of Palestinian Arabs from Western as well as Eastern (i.e., Transjordanian) Palestine. One signal from Chairman Arafat, and you can be sure that an unstoppable popular uprising (intifada) of hundreds of thousands of �Palestinians� will be out in the street liberating �Eastern Palestine� from its foreign Hashemite rulers.

Fourthly, if allowed to thus destabilize or incapacitate Israel and Jordan, a PLO state that dominates Greater Palestine will turn into the most subversive force in the Middle East. With or without the availability of a like-minded Iraqi ally, it is bound to further enlist its blend of Islamist terror and revolutionary nationalism in a populist intifada that will target the greatest plum of all - Saudi Arabia�s vulnerable Wahhabi regime and its neighboring oil sheikdoms. It is possible that not even relatively-moderate Egypt or Alawite-dominated Syria would escape the wrath of such an Islamist-Populist tidal wave.

The Jordan Valley is a semi-arid patch of land roughly 50 miles long and 10 miles wide, dissected by the Jordan river flowing into the Dead Sea basin. Together with the hills commanding its Western approaches, besides being the lowest point on earth, this valley could very well be the most strategic piece of real estate in the world today. A PLO state that dominates the Jordan Valley would hold the key to controlling Western and Eastern Palestine extending on both sides of the valley. Such PLO control of Greater Palestine at the crossroads of the Middle East would inevitably lead to unprecedented strife and subversion with regard to the whole region.

Clearly, whether it is called Palestine or Jordan, between desert and sea, within the confines of Mandatory Palestine, there is no place for an Arab sovereign entity other than a single Palestinian-Arab state existing side by side with the Palestinian-Jewish state (i.e., Israel). The introduction of a PLO state in the West Bank and Gaza (i.e., a second Palestinian-Arab state) would constitute nothing but a zero-sum threat with regard to the viability, stability and security of the two key Western allies in the area - Israel and Jordan.

So where does this leave the vision for peace? Firstly, such a vision can only be based on a "two-state solution" that incorporates nothing but Israel and Jordan. Secondly, Arab-populated areas of the West Bank and Gaza - with or without some type of federative relationship - would be joined with Jordan and the Hashemite regime to form the "viable" Palestinian-Arab state. Thirdly, the Jordan Valley and other strategic parts of the West Bank and Gaza will have to remain under permanent Israeli sovereignity. Fourthly, there can never be sovereign PLO rule or any "Arafatistan" in Palestine - West or East of the Jordan river.

Prime Minister Sharon should be adamant in refuting the "Clintonian" fallacy of a "viable" PLO state in the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, he should emphasize how such a course of action cannot lead to peace or stability with regard to either Israel or the region. It can only lead to an escalating flurry of war, terrorism and subversion throughout the Middle East, further destabilizing and endangering the "viability" of the West�s key Arab and non-Arab allies in the region.