Does anyone have any solutions to the boiling pot that is the Middle East? Nothing seems to be working. Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert met with the President yesterday and then with a small group of journalists, including me.

They are working on the same formula that has failed so many times in the past: give the Palestinians what they want – more land – and they will stop killing Israelis and each other. The trouble is, all of the agreements that have been reached and all of the land relinquished has not brought Israel one inch closer to peace or contributed to the region’s stability. Quite the opposite. The more Israel gives, the more her enemies take while they return nothing, except for more terror and more war.

Secretary of State Rice says now that the United States is ending an economic and political embargo against the so-called Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, Israel must reciprocate. For what? It’s the Palestinian side that must live up to its signed agreements.

In math, when the formula is wrong, one can never get the right answer. It’s the same in the Middle East.

 Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.