Word: arafats
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...Plainly, however, whatever role Arafat may have played over the years in both facilitating and/or sabotaging negotiations has come to an end, forcing all sides to reappraise their next move. For the Israelis, there are immediate security questions such as where Arafat will be buried - he wants to be interred on the Jerusalem hilltop known by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, but Israel is determined to prevent such a symbolic reaffirmation of Palestinian nationalist claims on the holiest piece of real estate in the Holy City; instead, they'll hope to seem...
...Arafat's passing brings on a more acute political problem for Sharon. Although the Israeli prime minister has outlasted and outwitted his nemesis, prevailing in his generational struggle against Palestinian nationalism even to the extent of undoing Arafat's diplomatic triumphs of the Oslo years, he may have won a pyrrhic victory. Sharon strategic goal, after all, has been not to revive President Bush's roadmap, but to avoid it, instead pursuing a unilateral redrawing of boundaries (the Gaza pullout) that would strengthen Israel's grip on the West Bank and remove any pressure to negotiate a permanent two-state...
...than previously to indulge any effort by Sharon to evade a resumption of the roadmap process. The Bush White House indicated Thursday that a second term represents a "new opportunity to move forward on the 'road map' and get to the two-state vision that the President outlined," and Arafat's departure make it considerably easier for Washington to demand that Israel resume a process with the Palestinians aimed at achieving a peace agreement that cedes not only Gaza, but also most of the West Bank, to a Palestinian state...
...Sharon will still have some leeway in demanding that a new Palestinian leadership proves its intent to clamp down on terrorism. But if the leadership replacing Arafat is dominated by the likes of such recognized moderates as former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas the Israeli leader will also face pressure to help his Palestinian counterparts cement their authority. The most important first step in this regard may be withdrawing troops and easing the security grip on Palestinian population centers to allow the holding of elections...
...Yasser Arafat had three distinct roles in Palestinian politics - president of the Palestinian Authority, chairman of the PLO and head of the Fatah organization. It is generally agreed by Palestinian analysts that there will be no new Arafat, in the sense of a single individual who controls so much of Palestinian political life, and a new leadership is likely to be more collective and consultative in nature (a process that can complicate as well as facilitate negotiations). But the overriding concern among the key Palestinian factions is to avoid a chaotic succession struggle that will further weaken their national movement...