Word: arafats
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Window Of Opportunity When British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw visited Ramallah last week to leave a wreath at Yasser Arafat's grave, many observers expected the government of Ariel Sharon to protest. But Israeli officials were resigned. "We snubbed officials who went to talk to Arafat when he was alive," sighed one. "We can't very well do that to those who want to talk to him when he's dead." That tempered response reflects a new mood of conciliation. With Palestinians preparing to vote on Jan. 9 for a new President, Israel last week signaled that it will allow...
...gave its presidential nomination to Mahmoud Abbas, favored by Israel and the West to succeed Arafat. But the signs of progress are still fragile. Palestinian officials are concerned about supporters of imprisoned Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti, who lost his bid to be Fatah's presidential nominee. Senior Fatah officials told TIME that as many as 40% of the party's members may now boycott the election. The absence of a credible alternative to Abbas could also embolden the militant group Hamas to attempt to derail his election by attacking Israel. "There is a real sense that this is a moment...
...Still, Arafat continued to commit himself, at least verbally, to peace. He wept when Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister who signed Oslo with him, was assassinated in 1995. He beamed in 1996 when he shook hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even though the hawkish Israeli leader had sworn earlier never to take Arafat's hand...
...Arafat couldn't make the final leap of faith. To reach an agreement with Israel on a Palestinian state, Arafat knew, would require deep compromises on what have become almost sacred demands among his people: that traditionally Arab East Jerusalem, including Islamic holy sites in the Old City, become part of Palestine and that Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation be allowed to return to their homes in what is now Israel. At the time of Camp David in 2000, Arafat's "obsession," an aide said, was that if he made those concessions, he would...
...came to learn the limitations of his power after he arrived in the Palestinian territories following an absence of a quarter-century. His hard-line critics remarked that he had been reduced to the status of "governor of Gaza," responsible for such matters as trash collection. Arafat, who loved power, didn't think much of governance and was ill suited to it. It was one thing to be the icon of Palestinian aspirations, another to manage an economy, deliver health care and pave roads. On top of those challenges, Arafat and his P.L.O. had to compete for popular standing with...