Word: baraker
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...Tunis was a watershed in Palestinian history. It made Israel start dealing with the P.L.O. "If you are reaching a historic agreement, you need a big shock first," notes an Arafat aide who was with him at Camp David. Says adviser Bassam Abu Sharif: "He thought he was cornering Barak. If he knows he will achieve a political point that will get him closer to independence and if that will cost him 10,000 killed, he wouldn't mind...
...actually comes across as gleeful, an ambitious prizefighter finally getting a shot at the champ. As he wolfs down a plate of lamb and rice, too rushed to take off his black leather jacket, he rattles off the reasons to be happy. The intifadeh not only brought Barak crawling back to the table, he believes, but also pressured him to give new concessions until the violence drove him from office. Now Sharon's election will give Palestinians a chance to show Israelis that not even "the Bulldozer" can protect them. "Sharon can make speeches," Barghouti warns, "but he will discover...
Arafat was clearly apprehensive about inflaming the streets. Three days before the intifadeh, he warned Barak personally that he would not be able to prevent the mayhem if Sharon went ahead with his visit to the Haram. "Please stop Sharon," Arafat pleaded during a dinner, according to an aide who was present. He instructed his chief negotiator, Saeb Erakat, to bring it up with Israeli negotiators and U.S. mediator Dennis Ross the next day. Says Erakat: "I told Dennis, 'This is our worst nightmare, for you, for us and for Barak. Do something about it.' He said...
When hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu took over in 1996, he made Arafat's life miserable. He delayed troop withdrawals and proceeded with construction of Jewish settlements. Later, under Barak, building continued apace. As Israelis became angry with outbreaks of violence and terrorism, ordinary Palestinians too grew disillusioned with the peace process. Palestinians felt Israel would never agree to their genuine independence. Without an end-of-conflict pact in sight, Arafat's place in history was never more on the line. When he signed the Oslo compromise, cries of betrayal arose from the militant Islamic group Hamas and such respected intellectuals...
Clinton exploded, according to the Palestinian notes. "You are denying your people a Palestinian state," Clinton warned. "Barak came a long way. You did not." When Arafat got back to his cabin at 2 a.m., Erakat began reading out the minutes of the tense exchange and then burst into tears. The other Palestinians, some of them also weeping, got up and embraced Arafat...