Chicken Little... or Pragmatist?

Daniel Pipes gave a great interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation show, Lateline about the situation between Israel and the PA. The host, Tony Jones, kept trying to get Pipes to say the summit at Sharm is a wonderful opportunity for peace. He felt Sharon must agree (Pipes doesn't) that Abu Mazen is sincere or else he wouldn't have shaken Mazen's hand -- doesn't Mr. Pipes agree? This led to one of my favorite exchanges:

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DANIEL PIPES: I would agree with you that the Israeli Government and particularly the prime minister doesn't agree with me. But I've often disagreed with Israeli prime ministers.

TONY JONES: Seriously, wouldn't they be in a much better position than you to judge him?

DANIEL PIPES: They've made mistakes before.

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Well, ain't that the truth. Pipes goes on about various reasons why it's hard to trust Mazen and how he, as someone not directly involved, could possibly be seeing the bigger picture. I have to say I agree with his skepticism. While it'd be great to believe that peace is just around the corner, there are too many signs to the contrary and Pipes states those quite effectively in this interview.