"Sharon and Arafat should step aside"

Sadly, Israel´s Jabba the Hut has (scared) enough of the voters behind him to secure continuation in power, his most likely successors from Likud are no better, the Labor has little chance of return to power and in the Palestinian side as long as USA demands Arafat to step aside the populace will support him. I sometimes wonder are the Americans really this stupid, don´t they understand that the more they demand Arafat´s removal from power at the same time that they sing the glories of Israel´s bloody occupation, the more secure Jasser Arafat is - or is this a cunning plan to sabotage peace negotiations, demanding Arafat´s removal from power and at the same time acting so that he remains in power, which then is used as a reason for not negotiating with the Palestinians?