Get Dennis Ross a handkerchief: he is beside himself with grief since Ariel Sharon entered the hospital. Whenever I read anything Ross (who studied Russian studies at UCLA--and it shows when he speaks or writes about the Middle East) wrote, I have to shake my head in amazement that he was the envoy to the "peace process." Wait, in fact, that makes perfect sense. So here, Ross pontificates on Palestinian affairs. He says: "Second, that international assistance will be immediately forthcoming for job-creating projects but will cease if Palestinians do not immediately establish law and order in Gaza and the West Bank." Law and order. Don't you love that. By law and order he means exactly what southern governors meant by "law and order" in the south in the 1960s, and what Franco meant by "law and order". And if the Palestinians don't do what they are told, they will be starved, preaches Ross. This passes as political wisdom in Washington, DC.