NYTimes -- Friedman -- The New Math

So for Israel 10 minus 2 is 8, and for the Palestinians 10 minus 2 is 12.

And that explains why Ariel Sharon's all-stick-no-carrot crackdown over the past two years has failed to improve security for Israelis.

By 2010 there will be more Palestinians than Jews living in Israel and the occupied territories. Then Israel will have three options: The Israelis will control this whole area by apartheid, or they will control it by expelling Palestinians, or they will grant Palestinians the right to vote and it will no longer be a Jewish state.

With his support for settlements, Sharon is setting up an even more deadly future.