he increasingly bloody stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians is certain to force itself onto the agenda of the next American president. That should be evident from the growing toll of innocent lives on both sides and the anger and despair spreading across an already inflamed region. Yet with barely two weeks left in the campaign, President Bush and Senator John Kerry have all but ignored this important issue, with neither offering any serious proposals to break the deadlock.

Instead, they have joined in offering Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, virtually uncritical support for whatever military operations or settlement expansions he chooses to undertake. After pronouncing anathemas on the discredited Yasir Arafat, they have stood by waiting for a new, less compromised Palestinian leadership to somehow emerge miraculously to replace him. This is not a policy. It is an abdication of leadership that costs Israeli and Palestinian lives, deepens mistrust and makes an eventual peace that much harder to achieve. Washington cannot afford to remain on such a destructive course. It must work to rebuild its influence as a force for Middle East peace.

Although the United States has long been a close ally of Israel and firmly committed to its security, Washington had also managed, prior to the Bush administration, to convince the Palestinians of its good faith as a peace broker. Over the past three and a half years, that trust has been needlessly and recklessly forfeited. This administration has allowed itself to become the pawn of Mr. Sharon's machinations. How far this has now gone is clear from a recent Israeli newspaper interview in which the prime minister's chief of staff bragged that Mr. Sharon had secured American endorsement for positions designed to postpone serious discussion of Palestinian statehood until the far distant future.

To re-establish America's credibility as a peace broker, the next president must show that the United States remains committed to the fair and viable two-state solution that Mr. Bush endorsed two years ago and will vigorously oppose all actions by either side that undermine it. It is vitally important for Washington to condemn any official Palestinian connivance in terrorism. But it must once again learn to raise its voice against Israeli settlement expansions and provocative military operations.

Israel's paramount need is security for its citizens as they go about their daily lives and in this it deserves America's complete support. The barrier fence the Sharon government is building can be a positive factor in stopping the infiltration of suicide bombers and other terrorists from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, but only if it hews closely to Israel's pre-1967 borders. The fence alone is not a complete answer. It must be complemented by an effective Palestinian crackdown against terrorist cells. That will require rebuilding some of the Palestinian political and police institutions that Israel has been systematically weakening.

Washington should actively encourage such rebuilding by pressing for new democratic elections at all levels of Palestinian society, from village mayors and councils to the top national leadership. Promoting democracy in the Arab and Islamic world is now official American policy, and the principle behind it is as valid for Palestinians as it is for Iraqis and Afghans. Since Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry both assert that Mr. Arafat has permanently discredited himself as a negotiating partner, they should be eager to encourage the emergence of a new generation of Palestinian leadership through democratic elections. Another way Washington can help reverse the current Palestinian drift toward lawlessness, terror and despair is by returning to the traditional American position of demanding a complete freeze on Israeli settlement activity. That would affirm American evenhandedness, revive flagging Palestinian hopes for a viable future state and reinforce the Palestinian moderates.

Peace between Israel and the Palestinians cannot be imposed by Washington; it must be home-grown. But that does not relieve the American president of responsibility for doing all in his power to encourage both sides to abandon their present destructive policies and recommit themselves to work toward an eventual negotiated peace.