Word: intifadas
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...That won't be easy. In Bush's view, responsibility for ending the murderous cycle of violence that has consumed Israel and the Occupied Territories since the current intifada began in September 2000 rests almost entirely on the Palestinians. Bush demanded that they oust their leader and replace him with one more palatable to Washington, build a "practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty" (a standard not yet met by any of Washington's Arab allies) and stop the attacks on Israel. The carrot: Perform those tasks to U.S. satisfaction over the next 18 months and the Palestinians will...
...President's address as a green light to expel Arafat, nobody believes there's going to be any Palestinian reform as long as Sharon's forces are inside PA territory. Bush did call for Israeli forces to withdraw to the positions they held before the onset of the current intifada, but he didn't specify any timetable. And plans to have Secretary of State Colin Powell fly out immediately to the region to press for implementation of the Bush agenda have been shelved...
...European Union and the U.S. Financial accountability has been questionable, too - the EU warned of rampant corruption, and Israel paid a substantial portion of the tax revenues destined for the PA into an account controlled by Arafat personally. Israeli payments to the PA ceased in response to the current intifada...
...security services have not enjoyed the monopoly of force in Palestinian territories. Each of the major Palestinian political parties - Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad - has maintained its own armed militias, and it is these forces that have waged the current intifada. And in the case of those aligned with his own political party - Fatah's Tanzim - Arafat has actually encouraged this development...
...Arafat's reasons for supporting the Tanzim are political. The aging PLO leader and his inner circle are mostly products of decades of Palestinian exile, men brought Arafat back with him from Tunisia to staff the top tier of the PA. But in the course of their 1987-1991 intifada, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza had evolved a strong local leadership, and many of these younger men were resentful at being overlooked in favor of the Tunisians. The grassroots Fatah leaders are generally more militant than those around Arafat, fiercely critical of the corruption and authoritarianism that...