Here, there’s no new Palestinian “pragmatism.” The only thing that has changed since the last autonomy talks ended in 1982 is their realization that, by gaining interim autonomy, they can achieve a Palestinian state. They have been encouraged in this by their violent intifada, which gave them effective sway over much of this land. Also, Israel’s primary miscalculation in sitting alongside Arab “delegates”–convicted terrorists and pro-PLO thugs–has emboldened them. Can Israel ever coexist alongside a Palestinian state? Only as a man lives with his cancer. A Palestinian state would mean the death of Israel.

I’m proud to be a settler, but I don’t want to drive the Arabs out. It’s a myth that Jewish settlement threatens their existence. Look at some numbers. We have needed only 38,000 acres to settle 1 million Jews in Judea and Samaria. That’s less than 4 percent of the total land here, which leaves more than enough for both people. Believe me, we don’t need a Madrid for true peace. If we could only deal with Arabs who in their hearts have made peace with Jews as neighbors, just as I accept them as neighbors, a solution acceptable to both sides would emerge quickly.

But, unfortunately for both us and them, the Palestinians say they are represented by the PLO. What an irony: their “sole legitimate” representative is a bloody terror group led by a man who is as much a murderer as Saddam Hussein. An American president can freely criticize Saddam, but I am criticized abroad when I portray Yasir Arafat for what he really is: a killer.

I the Madrid conference may reinforce some Americans’ naivete about the Middle East. James Baker’s talk about finding “a solution” implies you can solve the Mideast dilemma as neatly as a mathematical formula. The U.S. administration urges a peace “process” as though it were an orderly chemistry equation. In this part of the world, things are quite different. Americans, with their separation of church and state, cannot fathom Mideast societies deeply rooted in religion. That’s why we Israelis know better what will work for peace, and what won’t.

Yitzhak Shamir performed well in Madrid, I don’t deny that. He related our truth without offending others. But this conference nonetheless amounts to little more than an ambush of Israeli national interests. We saw that in the way both Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin at the end tilted their comments against Israel. I’m afraid that in this kind of arena any strong Israeli stand can only disintegrate, and I will again urge the prime minister to put an end to our participation.

While the talking continued in Madrid this week, the really important work continued relentlessly back here: building new homes and communities for Jews on this land. My fellow settlers this week seemed blithely confident that the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria is permanent and irreversible, despite Madrid. In my heart I know they’re right, and yet, we stay in Madrid, I worry.