Word: arafats
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Secretary of State Colin Powell flew to the Middle East last weekend in an effort to kick-start the U.S.-backed plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. But its fate may depend largely on one leader Powell did not plan to meet: Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian chief last month grudgingly turned over power, at least in theory, to a newly installed Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas. But top Palestinian officials tell TIME that Arafat is still fomenting opposition to the new PM. Arafat met last week with several local leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Fatah faction (to which Abbas also...
...Arafat's machinations are having an effect. Dahlan is finding it hard to crack down on militants, as he must to win Israeli cooperation in any peace plan. That's partly because last week Arafat ordered the head of Preventive Security--a plain-clothes police agency in the West Bank--not to cooperate with the security chief. And Fatah's militant arm, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, released a communique in which it stated that it refused to comply with Abbas' and Dahlan's calls for an end to terrorism. "We will not halt our resistance," it read, "as long...
Senior Palestinian leaders say Arafat is simply signaling that he is still in charge. What Arafat will not advertise, though, is his diplomatic isolation. No Arab leader, save Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calls him anymore, and the Gulf states have better relations with Abbas. Jordanian diplomats, for their part, call Arafat "irrelevant." But as Powell is soon likely to learn, Arafat is a long way from agreeing. --By Matt Rees and Jamil Hamad
...RESIGNED. SAEB ERAKAT, 48, Palestinian negotiation minister, from the Palestinian Cabinet. Erakat, who has led the Palestinian side in negotiations with Israel for almost a decade, tendered his resignation to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas after being left off a negotiating team scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss the U.S.-backed road map to peace...
...emblematic of how dire the situation has become in the region. Nevertheless, this new road map offered by a broad coalition is a positive step in moving toward peace. This movement has only been possible because Mahmoud shows promise of renewing a commitment to peace that wilted under Arafat. His promise to end the intifada and its attendant terrorism by either diplomacy or force is an exceptional step, if it is carried out. And there is room for cautious optimism, as his new security chiefs, including Mohammad Dahlan, may be more capable of asserting authority over the many political, religious...