All my life Americans have been accustomed to thinking of theirs as 'the richest freest' country in the world. By most measurements it was long a contender for that honor and - among the larger countries if equal weight were given to wealth and indices of freedom - probably did deserve to be so described.
The central premise behind Oslo was that if Arafat were given enough legitimacy territory weapons and money he would use his power to fight terror and make peace with Israel.