Here were some other amazing words in the Times today in an editorial on the PA and the possible cease-fire in Gaza:

If this truce does indeed take hold, it will be by far the second smartest thing–after electing Mr. Abbas as their leader–that the Palestinians have done in years. Mr. Abbas deserves credit as the only real Palestinian leader who candidly acknowledges what the world has always known. Palestinian violence against Israel is pointless, and has served only to bring forth overwhelmingly punishing responses. From the start of the intifada, back in 2000, Mr. Abbas warned that it was counterproductive, and that years of pointless carnage later, Palestinians would be back at square one, except poorer, more tired, held in lower esteem by the world.

Does the Times realize that this lesson–that violence never pays, that it is a dead-end–never would have been delivered if Ariel Sharon had ever listened to the advice of a New York Times editorial? This is how the political geneaology of the Middle East has worked recently: Arafat created Sharon, Sharon created Abbas.