Word: arafats
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...Arafat followed up quickly by naming Qureia to succeed Abbas, tossing a hot potato into President Bush's lap. Qureia, the popular speaker of the Palestinian legislature and key Oslo negotiator, is widely known as a moderate opposed to the armed intifada, who maintains close ties with many European, Arab and even some Israeli leaders (including Sharon's former foreign minister, Shimon Peres). He's not exactly a toady of Yasser Arafat, having clashed publicly with him on previous occasions - in many ways, Qureia's political pedigree is not dissimilar from that of Abbas, except that his personal relationship with...
...Israel insists it won't work with any government loyal to Arafat. And that leaves the Bush administration in a quandary over how to respond. The administration's project in Iraq, if nothing else, necessitates U.S. involvement in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. But the chosen recipe, premised on Palestinian 'regime-change,' has failed. Still, rather than turn up the heat on Israel, as Qureia is demanding, the U.S. has begun pressing the new prime minister-designate to carry out the crackdown on militant groups avoided by his predecessor...
...government were designed to remind Israel and the U.S. that the Palestinians do not have a state. And without one, or the imminent prospect of ending the occupation through negotiations with the Palestinians chosen leaders, Qureia was warning, the Palestinians have no interest in protecting Israel. Deal with Arafat, he appeared to be saying or there will be no deal, and no prospect of restoring security...
...Sharon's preferred method of dealing with Arafat, in the new situation, may be to expel him from the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli media report that Israeli officials sense a softening in the Bush administration's opposition to such a move, and Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz will visit Washington next week to petition the Bush administration to lift its prohibition against physically removing Arafat. It's unlikely, however, that the PA would survive such a move - and Qureia appeared to be warning that the Palestinians themselves won't try to keep it going if the leadership...
...Still, Israel insist it will not work with a PA government answerable to Arafat, and if violence escalates it may try to expel him. If the PA collapsed as a result, Israel would then have to resume the occupier's responsibilities in the Palestinian cities of the West Bank and Gaza. And whereas it has sent its troops on raids in many of those cities in the course of the current intifada, it has studiously avoided long-term deployments or resuming responsibility for civil administration. Even hawkish Israelis who have no intention of surrendering the hundreds of settlements Israel...