Word: syrians
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...Western Europe, the United Nations and even the Vatican. While his troops fought a losing battle in Tripoli, Arafat still commanded the loyalty of some 110 P.L.O. representatives around the world,The organization's political wing, most experts agreed, will not go along with the moves of Syrian President Hafez Assad. That, paradoxically, could push moderates in the P.L.O., including many residents of the West Bank and perhaps Arafat, to seek closer ties with Jordan's King Hussein...
...stated clearly enough what his real aims were. For every politician there comes a time when he must decide whether to sacrifice a political concept to unity or risk a split." Arafat elected what seemed to be the safer course, but for Assad it was already too late. The Syrian President read the Arafat-Hussein maneuverings, even though they came to naught, as an attempt to usurp a right he has always claimed for himself, namely to be the Palestinians' strongest supporter...
Assad had ruthlessly undercut Arafat twice before. In 1970, when Assad was Defense Minister, he prevented the Syrian air force from coming to the aid of Arafat's commandos in Jordan. During the 1975-76 civil war in Lebanon, Assad ordered his army to help Christian militiamen obliterate the Palestinian refugee camp of Tel Zaatar in Beirut, killing 3,000 Palestinians. When Assad failed to have Arafat deposed at a P.L.O. central committee meeting in August (Arafat actually received a nearly unanimous vote of confidence), Assad decided to resort to force...
...Syrian President may have dealt a mortal blow to Arafat's leadership, but his brutal Realpolitik was not supported by any Arab government except Libya's. From Jordan and Egypt to Saudi Arabia and the gulf states, Arab governments were still voicing support for Arafat...
...resident citizens. Whatever grievances they may have had in the past with the Palestine Liberation Organization and its chairman, Yasser Arafat, West Bankers have supported the P.L.O. as their only effective representative and Arafat as their symbolic leader. But as the fighting between Arafat's followers and their Syrian-backed opponents grew worse, the mood in the occupied territories began to change, as Bethlehem Mayor Elias Freij put it, "from despondency to disgust...