Word: statehooders
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...Palestinian leader accepts that and is prepared to ensure that PA security structures have a monopoly of force. But disarming the gunmen is a political challenge that Arafat is unlikely even to attempt as long Israeli forces remain in his domain and there's no prospect of imminent statehood...
...Israel, meanwhile, is facing its own internal struggle over how to follow up on its West Bank offensive. Sharon's own political base is trying to restrain him from entering any negotiations over Palestinian statehood. The prime minister is responding by telling supporters that statehood may be inevitable at some point, but that he won't negotiate on the subject until attacks on Israelis have ended and the PA has been reformed. His Labor Party coalition partners, sensing the possibility of an early election, have resurrected the Clinton proposals for Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank and Gaza...
...nonetheless forced, as prime minister, to observe it - by withdrawing from Hebron, for example - while Sharon snapped at his heels from the right. It is an unwritten rule of Israeli politics that no prime minister can afford to defy Washington for any length of time, and Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza is no longer even up for discussion in U.S. foreign policy - never mind in the Arab world where Israel must ultimately seek peace partners...
...Still, the terms of Palestinian statehood are less likely to be determined at a Likud party conference than among the international players looking to resolve the conflict. And some Israeli commentators even suggested that the Likud vote could strengthen Sharon's hand by painting him as a moderate before the international community, and also deepening his appeal among Israeli voters by making Netanyahu look reckless. The hard-core Likud base alone, after all, is not enough to get anyone voted prime minister in the election that's scheduled for next year...
...Washington lost no time in emphasizing that the Likud vote has not changed the fact that Palestinian statehood remains the endpoint of the diplomatic process. And despite his setback, Sharon appears to have won a measure of sympathy from Bush for his insistence that negotiations over Palestinian statehood have to be preceded by moves to end violence and by reforms inside Arafat's administration. His diplomatic standing will have been further enhanced by his acceptance of Washington's quiet pressure to show restraint on invading Gaza in response to last week's bombing at Rishon Letzion...