Word: arafat
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...Hamas victory will have the largest impact not in relations with Israel, where its goals and those of its predecessor Fatah resemble each other, but in two other arenas. Within the Palestinian Authority, Hamas will run a very different show from the anarchic, corrupt, sloppy dictatorship bequeathed by Yasser Arafat. Expect to see a far stricter, more religious, more disciplined order, with Fatah members, including Mahmoud Abbas, sidelined and probably repressed...
...Hamas ready to rule? Under the strong-arm regime of Yasser Arafat, the Fatah-dominated parliament was mostly a rubber stamp. A Hamas-controlled legislature is likely to wield much more power, severely restricting Abbas' ability to make decisions independently. That may lead to battles over the control of state agencies...
...Hamas to come to grips with reality and abandon this dream world they are in, that Israel is somehow going to be eliminated and disappear from the face of the earth." If Hamas can make that leap, Israel will find Hamas a tougher but more credible negotiating partner than Arafat ever...
...that dealing with domestic issues will be easy. To deliver on its promise to improve security, Hamas will have to rein in the myriad paramilitary groups that Fatah and Arafat set up. Confrontations seem inevitable. "The problem is not in carrying arms but in misusing them," says the Hamas military commander. "We will use an iron fist against those who misuse their weapons." The situation is even more volatile because Fatah members blame Abbas for the party's poor election showing. Thousands of angry Fatah supporters demonstrated late last week to call for his resignation, and Fatah gunmen stormed...
...Palestinian institutions. But when the two sides inevitably meet over a bargaining table-and history's lesson is that when national conflicts are solved in negotiations, those deemed terrorists eventually end up at that table-Israel will find Hamas a far tougher, but also far more credible interlocutor than Arafat ever was. Just as the hard-liner Sharon was widely held to be the best Israeli leader to uproot settlements-not unlike Nixon going to China-so may Hamas well turn out to be the best bet for enforcing a truce. Its ascendancy may finally produce the accountable, transparent government...