Goldman Sachs has a long history in lower Manhattan, from Marcus Goldman providing short-term financing to the nineteenth-century rag trade on the Lower East Side to signs carried around the present occupation of a park at Broadway and Cedar Street.

FORBES: Don't Blame Goldman Sachs For Hedging Its Bets And Staying In Business

The Palestinans suspect that this is an approach that suits Mr Sharon, since it allows him time to consolidate Israel's present conquests into a longer-term interim occupation.

ECONOMIST: Doomed diplomacy? | The