While Eastern Europe ignites in economic and political liberation and the nuclear Doomsday Clock ticks backward on the eve of the Bush-Gorbachev summit, the Middle East is exploding in fire and blood, lighting a fuse that easily could ignite a world grown hopeful, with expectations of peace.

The slaughter of Arabs at the hands of a deranged Israeli gunman was an isolated incident to which the Arab world has overreacted for politically self-serving reasons; but it also is symptomatic of the sick hatred that has been passed on generationally, by both sides in the conflict.

In a region known for its intransigence, the elements for compromise have existed all along: an end to Israeli policy for permanent settlement of the occupied West Bank. United Nations intervention, temporary or permanent, to stabilize the geopolitical situation. Pressure from the the United States and the Soviet Union to get serious negotiations, and a peace process in motion.