WE were impressed at the sight of a smiling white-haired old man of 76, walking confidently in the city of New York last Friday. He was Mahmud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, who had come especially to the United Nations to ask that Palestine be made its 194th member. "There is no need for haste," he calmly told members of the Security Council, exhorting them to study the proposal carefully before deciding.

Tired of waiting for negot