Outsiders, including the Americans, were long inclined to concur with Israeli doves in doubting Mr Sharon's desire or intention to reach the ceasefire and thus trigger the settlement freeze, let alone resume talks on a permanent agreement.

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It would have been easy for Mr. Holder to concur with his predecessors-in fact, it was critical that he do so to preserve the Justice Department's impartiality.

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Senior defense and Administration officials concur with this assessment, but a Pakistani senior military official, whom I reached at his office, in Rawalpindi, disagreed.

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