Word: arafat
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...Gaza strip to hillside towns in the West Bank: It's time to teach the ruling Fatah party a lesson. As Palestinians lined up to vote Wednesday in their first legislative elections in ten years, many said that their government needed a shakeup. Fatah, founded by Yasser Arafat and led today by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, is widely viewed as corrupt and incompetent. According to polls, around a third of all Palestinian voters now support Hamas, a radical Islamist group committed to destroying Israel but also widely viewed among Palestinians as a vehicle for clean and competent government...
...violent overthrow of Israel, killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and rocket attacks and is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. But Hamas has also emerged as a major a political force, positioning itself as the chief rival to Fatah, the party of former president Yasser Arafat and current Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. In local elections last year, Hamas won control of towns and cities across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The group is set to increase its power in parliamentary elections this week, which would make it a crucial player in any future negotiations...
...donor and diplomatic community on reform and making sure they know where their money is going.” The Jan. 25 election is the third major election in the Palestinian Authority’s history. The first, which elected members to the charter PLC and voted Yasser Arafat in as president, took place on Jan. 20, 1996. The second, which brought Mahmoud Abbas to power following Arafat’s death, was held on Jan. 9, 2005.“The first two elections were reasonably credible and received pretty good marks in terms of adhering to international standards...
Sharon had always opposed the Oslo peace agreements, arguing that Arafat would just use self-rule to wage war against Israel from up close. As a Palestinian mob lynched two Israeli soldiers on camera, as Palestinian marksmen shot into Israeli houses, Sharon's view came to be accepted by a growing number of his compatriots, propelling him to power in 2001. Israelis, right and left, were spoiling for a fight too, and Sharon was just the man to deliver one. In his first year in office, he was relatively restrained, punching hard but always calibrating his response to avoid...
...exit from political life, triggered by a massive stroke from which the chance of a full recovery appears slim, we worry about the consequences for a peace process that, largely as a result of his actions, has steadily gained momentum in recent months.Sharon, like the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was a towering figure in the ongoing strife between Israelis and Palestinians. But while the sentiment after Arafat’s death in November 2004 was one of cautious optimism for a new, more progressive generation of Palestinian leadership, Sharon’s illness may bring the slowly emerging Israeli...