...Yes, Hamas also recruits and supports suicide bombers. But there is no difference, he says, between Hamas and the PA when it comes to the desire for the destruction of Israel.

But aren't Abu Mazen's hands tied? Isn't he doing a dangerous balancing act between reining in terror and triggering a civil war? Khaled Abu Toameh dismisses this suggestion out of hand. Abu Mazen was elected with a mandate to bring reform and disarm the terrorists. The people want accountability and calm and order, they want the normal life that Arafat was bent on denying them. Fear of civil war is a transparent excuse for failure to act.

Finally, don't all of the Muslims just want to kill the Jews? "Well, I'm a Muslim, and I don't want to kill Jews," Khaled says quietly (while most of us look very hard at our laps). He goes on to explain that the Islam he grew up with teaches respect for others, tolerance, charity and peace. And I realize with mild surprise that I believe him.