Word: fatah
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...back burner. Three weeks of rage not only showed how deeply Palestinians distrust the peace process, they also bled the Israeli peace camp of much of its faith in the process. Just as the center of gravity in Palestinian politics has shifted toward the militancy of the Islamists and Fatah grass roots, so has the momentum in Israeli politics swung dramatically against Prime Minister Barak's peace policy. Barak is already seeking out a coalition with the right-wing Likud party, and few observers doubt that if he went to the polls now, he'd be trounced by a resurgent...
...pull back their troops and Yasser Arafat is able to muster the requisite political authority to stop young Palestinians from marching on their positions - and right now that's a very big "if," as not only his Islamist opposition but even much of the grassroots membership of his own Fatah organization has virulently and openly opposed the agreement at Sharm el-Sheikh - the latest agreement may only temporarily separate the combatants on each side...
That was supposed to shock Barak into helping Arafat. But the Israeli Prime Minister made no response. Angry and isolated, Arafat prepared to send a message Barak couldn't ignore. He held a series of midnight meetings in late September with local leaders of his Fatah party's Tanzim. The Tanzim, which means "organization," is an armed militia that answers to a network of local warlords. "Be ready. We will be facing difficult times," Arafat told the leaders. Officials close to Arafat say he was counting on a tough Israeli response to trouble, followed by international condemnation of Israel...
...throughout the Arab world in the summer after Israel withdrew from Lebanon, young Palestinians skeptical of Arafat's peacemaking efforts have admiringly cited its example. Arafat is facing a direct challenge from the Islamist militants of Hamas and also some degree of mutiny in the ranks of his own Fatah movement - local leaders are issuing leaflets calling for war against Israel - and the Hezbollah attacks won't help him restore his authority...
...gladly stir, with a religious militancy that knows no shades of gray and the promise of suicide bombers exacting revenge for five days of violence in which almost all of the blood shed has been Palestinian. Never mind Hamas; Arafat will have a hard enough time bringing his own Fatah party back on board. One of his cabinet ministers said Sunday that "we gave the peace process too much of a chance...