Word: pa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Palestinian Authority, Arafat used a speech to the Palestinian legislature Wednesday to denounce attacks on Israeli civilians and to call for sweeping, if undefined, reforms. Thursday, the Palestinian legislature scheduled a presidential election for next March, legislative elections within a year from now and voted to name a new PA cabinet within 45 days...
...scheduling new elections for his position, Arafat has effectively neutralized efforts by Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to sideline him from any future negotiating process. Sharon earlier this week reiterated his insistence that there would be no negotiations with the Palestinians before the PA had been thoroughly reformed, saying he would talk only to a "different Palestinian Authority" - code for an entity led by someone other than Arafat. But by committing himself to renewing his mandate from the Palestinian electorate, Arafat is answering Western and Arab calls for greater democracy in the PA. It's a relatively safe move, since...
...Saudi Arabia to be urged to end suicide bombings. The Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza want Arafat to get rid of the men around him, end corruption and create an administration more responsive to their needs. But that population is also deeply angry at the PA for failing to protect them from the Israeli offensive. A planned visit by Arafat to the devastated Jenin refugee camp was called off Monday, for security reasons. Thousands of Palestinians had reportedly been waiting to greet him. But their mood was hard to gauge...
...hold. The see-sawing battle over Mideast policy in the administration seems to be tilting again towards the hawks, with President Bush, during this week's White House visit, appearing to endorse Sharon's position that peace talks will have to wait until security had been restored and the PA thoroughly reformed. That allows Sharon to defer the uncomfortable question of just how much of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza he's ultimately willing to relinquish...
...Sharon's insistence that a democratic PA is a precondition for negotiations may also be something of a hedge. After all, most surveys of public opinion in the West Bank and Gaza find a majority of Palestinians implacably opposed to cracking down on those who have fought the intifada, and disinclined to accept the terms of new cease-fires with the Israelis. A more democratic Palestinian leadership would naturally be more responsive to the concerns of its constituency, and therefore possibly even more difficult for the Israelis to deal with than Arafat. Even before the latest intifada, the Palestinian public...