Middle East: Posturing on the Morning After

Israel talks tough; Mubarak vows to uphold the peace

"We said we would evacuate the Sinai when certain conditions were met, and we did. Here [on the West Bank] we said we would not withdraw, and indeed we won't."

Israel's stubborn Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, issued that pledge last week as he spoke at the opening of a new Israeli military outpost in the West Bank Valley of Elah where, according to biblical tradition, Goliath was slain by David. Having returned the final third of the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian control, the government of...