For someone who calls himself an intellectual, Azmi Bishara has come up with some very stupid recommendations to the Palestinians ("The Evasive Radical," July 30). He believes in a long-term struggle with Israel and urges preparing the Arabs for a drawn-out conflict. This of course implies that Palestinians will eventually get more than what was offered to Arafat by Barak. Very unlikely.

It also does not take into consideration that the Palestinians will lose the best and the brightest and a large section of those who currently own the economic wherewithal under the PA. And once they leave they won�t be back. Just look at what happened to the elite in Lebanon who decamped during their civil war.