Word: arafats
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Does President Bush have a follow-up plan for actually removing Yasser Arafat from power? Apparently not. In his Middle East speech last week, the President urged the Palestinians to replace their current leaders (read Arafat) with ones "not compromised by terror." Once that occurs, he said, the U.S. will recognize a Palestinian state and pressure Israel to do likewise. But some Administration officials admit there's no blueprint for moving Arafat along. Concedes a White House aide: "Some of these tactical aspects we are still working...
...allies in the Arab world have spent most of this year pressing President Bush to intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and most have been quietly exasperated by the new policy he announced last week that made Yasser Arafat's ouster a precondition for progress. Continuing conflict in the West Bank and Gaza puts their alliance with the U.S. under domestic political strain, and there's considerable fear in Arab capitals that this tension will be exacerbated if - or more likely when - the U.S. ignores their reservations and invades Iraq. The Bush administration appears to be calculating that decisive action...
...More significant is Bush's call for a new Palestinian leadership. Let's stipulate that Yasser Arafat has been disastrous for the Palestinians. Why should anyone think Bush's speech makes it more likely they will now dump him? Since the time of Caesar Augustus, imperial powers have tried to find local chiefs they can do business with. It never works; just because you sign a treaty with Red Cloud, it doesn't mean Sitting Bull stays on the reservation. National-liberation movements (and Palestinians believe they are engaged in one) are quite happy, thank you very much, to choose...
Person of the Week HOLDING ON It's tough enough being a politician in one of the most dangerous regions in the world. When the U.S. President calls for your removal, maybe it's time to think retirement. But Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says he's not going anywhere, and insists he'll be up for re-election next January...
...Noted "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born." GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. President, in a speech that tied removal of Yasser Arafat to U.S. support for a Palestinian state...