Word: arafats
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...Edwards administration, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be an afterthought, but a priority that will always get the consistent, high-level attention it deserves" - but never specifying what it might do differently. And this week, Kerry echoed President Bush's insistence that the U.S. will not deal with Arafat, and praised Ariel Sharon's "courageous" plan to leave Gaza...
...painting Arafat as the prime obstacle to restarting a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is not unlike the tendency among administration spinmeisters to paint its troubles in Iraq as the work of the demonic Zarqawi. In either case, it's far from that simple. Suffice to say that in the case of Arafat, the idea that those waiting in the wings to succeed the aging and increasingly unpopular leader are not likely to be any more inclined to accept Sharon's terms than is Arafat...
...institutions have largely collapsed, and real power on the streets of places such as Gaza is contest of wills between Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyr's brigade, on the one hand, and the Israeli Defense Force on the other. The Palestinians know they have been atrociously led by Arafat, but that doesn't make them any more forgiving of Israel and the U.S. Their despair is at an all-time high, meaning that the likes of Hamas are unlikely to struggle to find volunteers for new suicide missions. Israel's wall has prevented Palestinian suicide bombers from reaching Israel...
...Arafat has certainly provided plenty of reason to doubt his credentials as a statesman capable of making the compromises required to achieve a viable two-state solution to the conflict. But taken at his own word, and that of some of his closest advisers, when it comes to getting real over the outline of a two-state solution, Sharon doesn't exactly inspire confidence, either...
...While Arafat is widely pilloried for his rejection of the Camp David deal (he prevaricated over Taba), the irony is that, if anything, Sharon was even more vehement in his rejection of the same. Indeed, Sharon stressed upon assuming office that he had no intention of seeking a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians, believing this was neither possible nor desirable. Rabin's pursuit of that goal, in Sharon's mind, was, at best, a tragic mistake. Instead, he envisaged managing the conflict between the two peoples via a series of long-term interim agreements, which the Palestinians are bludgeoned...