According to Mr Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, the only way to get the Palestinian leadership to talk peace is to hit them so hard militarily that they have no other option but to pursue it. That is the best explanation for his current strategy, which yesterday saw 50 tanks deployed in reoccupying the Palestinian refugee camp of Tulkarem in a further escalation of a conflict which looks increasingly like a conventional war - albeit a completely unbalanced and disproportionate one.
It is a highly dangerous strategy, which is isolating Israel internationally. It is also alienating an increasing number of its own citizens. There is a strange tension in Israeli public opinion between support for negotiations on a peaceful settlement and disbelief that it is currently possible. Mr Sharon is exploiting that ambiguity by pursuing a military strategy under pressure from hard right and settler parties who believe the Palestinian Authority must be overthrown, the West Bank and Gaza completely reoccupied and the intifada put down by force.
That is not only entirely unacceptable but incapable of being achieved without a wider Middle East war. Indeed Mr Sharon's approach prompts the thought that this is precisely his intent. At such a volatile moment in Israel's history the plan floated by the Saudi Arabians to exchange land for a regional peace and normalised relations has much to offer the people of Israel. But for that opportunity to be opened up, Mr Sharon's strategy must be confronted head on by his political opponents. The Labour Party's coalition with him makes no political sense now that he has so utterly disregarded their policies. Labour should withdraw and reconnect with the large peace constituency in Israeli society.
This would provide a focus for international efforts to contain Mr Sharon's militarism, notably by stimulating the United States to take a less passive approach towards it. Mr Colin Powell's criticisms of the Sharon approach this week reveal the potential for such movement, just as the Saudi plan opens up the prospect for diplomacy.
The Sharon policy is a dead end which endangers Israelis and Palestinians alike.