The man who owes his election victory to terrorism, now blames Israel for the failure of his boggled  EURO—Mediterranean summit on international relations and terror. Let's get this straight: the headline of the New York Times on this summit was "Muslim Nations Skip Meeting in Europe." Hosni Mubarak, leader of Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, stayed away; King Mohammed VI of Morocco refused to attend; the president of Algeria had other things going on.

Yet somehow Israeli "intractability" is responsible for the failure of the summit. I suppose intractability in Spanish might also mean a "stiff—necked people". Or does it actually mean, Israel wanted the issue of terror dealt with in a responsible way and Zapatero appeased Muslim nations who would rather ignore that particular issue.

Ed Lasky 11 29 05