Things were not exactly . running like clockwork beforehand. But this week's atrocities in Baghdad and Jerusalem have rocked America's Middle East policy on two flanks at once. Whoever blew up the Un-ited Nations headquarters in Baghdad on August 19th, killing its senior diplomat and a score of others, also blew away the illusion that its American and British occupiers were close to bringing peace to post-Saddam Iraq. The same day's suicide bombing in Jerusalem-more than a score of men, women and children blown to bits on a bus-may well have torn a lethal hole in the international "road map" along which Israelis and Palestinians were supposed to limp to peace. At such times, the first reaction is despair. It can begin to seem that whether it be in Iraq or Palestine, and whether it is strong or frail, the hope of peace can always be uprooted by a determined suicide bomber bent on slaughter. Sound policy needs, however, to recognise the differences between the two places. In Iraq, even after this bitter week, the outlook for the longer run is good. The basic political conditions there point to the possibility, even the probability, of a peaceful and prosperous future. In Palestine those conditions do not yet apply, and the United States needs to adjust its policy accordingly.
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