Periscope.

Arafat: Far Off the Roadmap

Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, is a time of deep reflection and symbolism about the challenges that life presents. In the midst of another cycle of violence in Israel, that symbolism rarely felt heavier. A suicide bomb in the northern port city of Haifa left at least 19 dead on the Sabbath before Yom Kippur, and pushed the Israeli government another step closer to removing Palestinian Chairman Yasir Arafat.

In public, the Bush administration recited the usual condemnations and offered the familiar condolences. But in private conversations with the region's leaders, there is a sense that the United States has reached ...