Word: intifadeh
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...Oslo peace accords signed by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993, Barak had agreed to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He threw in some sovereignty over Jerusalem. But Arafat bargained for more and didn't get it, then gambled on the new intifadeh, demolishing Barak's re-election hopes. So Arafat must now face Sharon, who calls him a liar and refuses to shake his hand. The dread is, it could be Beirut all over again...
...hard to understand the fury of the intifadeh until you spend a few hours on the Palestinian side of the lines. Mornings tend to be calm. But as schools let out or after the tumultuous funeral cortege of yesterday's dead protester, the gangs of young men and little boys stream toward the front, psyched for a new attack on "the Jews." Filled with anger and bravado, they fight their war into the night, choking from tear gas and burning tires, some felled by the bullets of the enemy...
...street is the source of all Arafat's strength. From Day One, he ensured that the intifadeh was run by the Tanzim, his Fatah organization's street militia. Controlling the street is no easy proposition. Prior to his hero's return from Camp David, impatience with the peace process was mounting. So were gripes about corruption, cronyism, press curbs and human-rights abuses in Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The discontent with his rule is still there, as thick as the tear gas and the smoke. During the second week of the intifadeh in Gaza, a mob broke away from...
...wait and see, keeping his own options open, giving Sharon time and testing his intentions. In the short term, though, that means Arafat doesn't mind some violence here and there. This serves his internal situation, by showing that he's still committed to the escalation of the intifadeh. And it also underlines the message Arafat wants to put out to the rest of the world, that the region is on the verge of exploding - and as far as I can see, he's succeeding in conveying that impression, even though it's not necessarily an accurate...
...setbacks didn't seriously dent Sharon's lead in the polls. For one thing, Israelis' attention was distracted by the intifadeh. Three more Israelis died in terrorist attacks last week, bringing the total to 48 in this intifadeh. Whether or not Israelis blame Sharon for the Lebanon debacle, Barak carries the can for the intifadeh deaths. Sharon aides expect that his advantage in the opinion polls will slim to as little as 5 points by election day next Tuesday. But by the standards of Israeli votes, that would be a comfortable...