Wise Up, Mr. Bush

President Bush continues to delude himself that Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is interested in peace. Mr. Sharon has no intention of ever seriously negotiating with the Palestinians.

First it was the violence, then it was Yasser Arafat, and now Mr. Sharon says he won't negotiate until the Palestinian Authority cleans up corruption and becomes more democratic — presumably according to his definition.

That's arrogant hogwash, of course. If democracy and no corruption were the conditions for negotiations, there wouldn't be a single treaty between any nations on the face of the earth. Sharon intends to just drag things out, as the Israelis have done for more than 10 years, and in the meantime take more Palestinian land and squeeze and harass the Palestinians even more.