Ten years ago, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accord on the White House lawn.

I was there, and it was one of the most exhilarating moments in 30 years of covering the Mideast region. I watched the famous handshake meant to lead to a Palestinian state beside a secure Israel.

That was then. The Israeli premier was murdered by one of his countrymen, the Oslo process failed, and the U.S.-backed “road map” toward peace has reached a dead end. After a string of heinous suicide bombings, the Israeli cabinet is on the verge of expelling Yasser Arafat from the West Bank as an “obstacle to … peacemaking.”

Arafat IS an obstacle, a man who has betrayed his people, and failed to use his still-extant powers to stop suicide bombings. But, far from halting terrorism, the expulsion of Arafat will ensure that terrorism gets worse.

How to explain this contradiction?

The rationale for expulsion argues that Arafat’s absence would enable more moderate Palestinian leadership to succeed. After all, former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who pledged to curb Hamas and Islamic Jihad, just resigned in frustration after Arafat denied him control of Palestinian security services.

Abbas, however, blamed not only Arafat but also Israel for undermining him. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave Palestinians no sign he was willing to dismantle Israeli settlements or entertain the idea of a state bigger than a fraction of the West Bank. So Palestinians wouldn’t back Abbas in waging a bloody Palestinian civil war to wipe out the Hamas terrorist infrastructure. Nor will they back a moderate successor under current conditions.

In fact, the threat to expel Arafat has turned him into a martyr. Even many Palestinians who despise him can’t publicly criticize him when he is threatened by Israel. If he is kicked out, he will rule from abroad; should he be killed, West Bank leadership will devolve to radicals and Islamist groups.

At that point, any prospect of a two-state solution will be moot. Israel will be stuck ruling 3.2 million bitter Palestinians, whose growth rate ensures Jews will become a minority in Greater Israel in a couple of decades. Under such circumstances, terrorism is bound to get worse.

So the idea of expelling Arafat is a move that bespeaks desperation. There is only one way to do an end run around this destructive man.

If the Palestinian public were convinced that it could still get a viable state, I believe it would back a moderate, not Arafat. Back in 1996, Palestinian public opinion forced Arafat to crack down on Hamas, leading to a three-year period with very little violence. That’s when the state option still seemed real.

Tragically, Arafat blew the opportunity for Palestinian statehood presented by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. He misled his people about the negotiations and chose violence as a bargaining tactic. Palestinians never understood the opportunity they missed.

Last year, the Bush administration put forward a “road map” that called for a Palestinian state but never defined it or put enough U.S. muscle behind it. The road map used the same step-by-step approach that caused Oslo to fail, giving hard-liners the chance to sabotage the process at each stage.

The only way forward is for the United States to make an entirely different kind of proposal, endorsed by the rest of the world. It would clearly spell out the final goal — a two-state solution, more or less, along 1967 lines, with the dismantlement of Jewish settlements.

In return, the Palestinians would be required to drop the demand for the “right of return” of refugees to pre-1967 Israel. The plan would be guaranteed by the United States, and the United Nations, including Arab states, and might involve international troops or civilians to supervise a transitional Palestinian state.

Such a plan would appeal over the head of recalcitrant leaders to the Palestinian — and Israeli — publics. I agree with Mideast experts Hussein Agha and Robert Malley, who propose that such a plan be submitted to each side for a referendum.

That approach — with global backing — would make Arafat irrelevant. A focus on Arafat will only prolong his power.

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her e-mail address is trubin@phillynews.com.