A very good read by an Israeli Intel Person on the geopolitics of the current situation YMMV
[link|http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp486.htm|http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp486.htm]
3 weeks before Sharon's visit to the Israeli Side of the Mount the following happened

About three weeks before the outbreak of the intifada, the writing on the wall became apparent. In an article in Al Sabah, the official newspaper of the PA, Yasser Khalil Salah referred to the approaching event and to its theme - Jerusalem, as well as to the launching of the "jihad and intifada campaign" against Israel. In his words: "The defense of Jerusalem demands blood. In blood we shall defend Jerusalem. The time of sacrifice and victory has arrived....The campaign for Jerusalem is the Mother of Wars....We shall proceed and declare a general intifada for Jerusalem. The time of intifada has come, has come, has come, the time of Jerusalem has come, Jerusalem is calling."24

The application of violence is perceived as a legitimate tool, based as it is in the Palestinian view on the rights of people to resist in order to achieve national liberation and self-determination. In order to keep the sword of violence ready at any time, the PA established the Political Direction Organization, which reports directly to Arafat, and which is responsible for national mobilization and the shaping of Palestinian public opinion on every level, from kindergartens through youth movements to military officers and civil servants. The organization has its representatives planted in every government office and each military unit, and is widely active in the fields of propaganda and "the preparation of hearts" (its officers are a Palestinian version of "Politruks"25). Its activities include the publication of numerous information pamphlets, lectures to military units, organization of summer camps for ten of thousands of students (where emphasis is put on Palestinian rights to "Palestine 1948" and where students are trained in the use of firearms as a legitimate means in the struggle), and the explication of PA policy in the form of Orders of the Day.

The goal of these activities is to educate the present and emerging generations in the fundamental and uncompromising values of the Palestinians (independence, Jerusalem, the return), to contest the right of Israel to exist, to deny the right of the Jews for any share of Palestine, to promote openly anti-Semitic tendencies, and to encourage Istishhad (martyrdom) and the immediate readiness for self-sacrifice for the sake of achieving the Palestinian objectives in their entirety, according to the Fatah slogan "revolution until victory." The lyrics of the 2001 PA summer camp anthem read: "We the youth...will sacrifice ourselves for Yasser (Arafat)....We train in the use of weapons, we are the youth of vengeance....Revolution, revolution until victory."

thanx,
bill