As usual, policy is set by the settlers

"Tell me, please, what am I supposed to do now?" the local Palestinian leader from the Bethlehem area asked the western diplomat. They were watching as a huge bulldozer dugs its teeth into the land of Beit Sahur, paving another road to bypass the Palestinians for the glory of the Israeli occupation. The road is particularly meant for the residents of Nokdim, the settlement that is home to MK Avigdor Lieberman. "What would you do in my place?" asked the Palestinian, a moderate who is far from being a proponent of violence. "Would you watch from the side as the settlers take your land, or would you shoot at the bulldozer?"

Those aren't the questions that are bothering the Tanzim leadership or the commanders of the Al-Aqsa Brigades. They, like the vast majority of Palestinians in the territories (92 percent according to the most recent poll by Dr. Khalil Shikaki), are in complete agreement about the legitimacy of the violent struggle against the settlers and the army that protects them.

The dilemma nowadays for non-religious Palestinians touches on the efficacy and morality of the suicide bombings inside the state of Israel, proper. There are growing signs that if Israel were to hint that it is ready, with the Palestinians, for a reprise of the Grapes of Wrath understandings, the unwritten agreement that in its day took the Galilee and the villages of south Lebanon out of the armed conflict, it would find the Tanzim and Al Aqsa Brigades willing partners.