WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2002 — What to do about the terrible conflict in the Middle East? Today we read of a particularly horrific suicide bombing in Jerusalem that took the lives of 19 Israelis, the highest total from a single attack in six years.

Reports in the daily press seem to indicate that the Bush administration doesn’t know what it’s doing. Instead, it’s hopelessly deadlocked in internal debate between the Cheney-led hawks, who want to give Israel more room to fight terrorism, and the Powell-inspired peace-processors, who believe the answer is to convince Israel to grant more concessions to the Palestinians. For a president who is obsessed with unanimity and presenting a common front, all this is quite a mess — although it’s hardly an unexpected one. Back in February 2001, I wrote, "As the new administration continues its campaign-style attempt to manage information — last week was education, this week it’s faith-based organizations — the real test will come when it’s forced to deal with the unexpected." Under the rubric of the unexpected, you could include September 11 and everything that’s come since.

To break the Mideast-policy deadlock, the administration has turned to the Arab world for help. The Boston Globe’s Anthony Shadid reports that the White House is looking to "Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, which have taken far more prominent roles in helping determine US policy on the conflict than under the Clinton administration." Seeking guidance on this issue from these regimes makes about as much sense as letting Osama bin Laden help determine US policy toward Al Qaeda. While Jordan has played a generally helpful role in the region, the involvement of Egypt and Saudi Arabia is a terrible thing for the peace process. When President Clinton prodded Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak to offer the Palestinians a very generous deal at Camp David in 2000, the Egyptians and Saudis were nowhere to be found. In fact, rather than urging Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat to accept the deal, they encouraged him to reject it. Now this same gang — whose members produce hateful anti-Israel rhetoric in their state-sanctioned presses — is trying to squeeze the Israelis into offering an even more generous deal than they did two years ago, despite all the recent deaths. And the Bush administration calls this a "War on Terrorism"?

If the Saudis want to facilitate peace between Israel and the Palestinians, here’s a simple idea: they should send the message that so-called suicide bombings are contrary to the Koran and Islam — even if they’re targeted against Israeli schoolchildren who live in an "occupied" land, i.e., Israel. As the hereditary stewards of the holy city of Mecca, the al-Saud family has the power to declare such behavior forbidden — either through its own statements and actions, or through those of powerful religious leaders who operate from within its midst. This wouldn’t stop all future suicide attacks, but a crystal-clear message from the guardians of Mecca wouldn’t hurt. If the Saudis are feeling particularly helpful, they could even declare those who help plan and carry out such actions banned from Mecca. It certainly wouldn’t cost anything. And it would be an important sign of good faith for a country that insists on meddling with US foreign policy.