Word: fatah
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...percent of Palestinians in favor of continuing the intifada, and the once unthinkable, that is, open defiance of Arafat's edicts, is now commonplace not only among the radical Islamists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but even among the grassroots structures of the Palestinian leader's own Fatah organization. The militants, who have no interest in seeing Arafat return to the negotiating table, have a powerful "veto" in the form of ongoing attacks that draw Israel's tank and missile fire and maintain the cycle of violence...
...control have sharply weakened his diplomatic support in the West. On the Palestinian street, the uprising has seen the political center of gravity shift away from Arafat and towards the radical Islamists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and more importantly to the rank and file militants of his own Fatah organization who are increasingly openly at odds with their leader. Continuation of the current impasse is untenable for Arafat, because it inevitably results in his political eclipse by more militant forces. Those militants have announced that they will fight on, and a recent opinion poll found that 85 percent...
...much else has really changed. So many members of Arafat's own Fatah organization, for example, have ignored his cease-fire call, saying it's not valid unless the Palestinians get something in return. Many of them believe that they will force Israel to back down by continuing this intifada for a number of years...
...before a cease-fire has taken hold, and he's dead set against any resumption of the Oslo process. But a cease-fire requires Arafat to rein in the militants, and he's unlikely to risk confrontation with the hard-liners of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and even his own Fatah organization without a political prize to offer Palestinians as reward. After all, the majority of Palestinians polled in various surveys support violence against Israel and oppose cease-fire agreements, and a year of clashes has substantially weakened Arafat's political control in the West Bank and Gaza. Thus Arafat...
...collaborators aren't so lucky. They average three years before they are discovered by their compatriots. Then either they are killed by vigilantes or they flee to Israel. During the first intifadeh of 1987 to 1993, more than 1,000 suspected collaborators were executed by vigilante gangs like the Fatah Hawks. Some were hanged in public squares; others were dumped on lonely roads. Since the Aqsa intifadeh began, some 20 have been lynched and two executed of the 14 sentenced to death by Arafat's State Security Court; 200 remain under arrest, awaiting trial...