NO CIGAR? :

Arafat: It's not only up to me whether I run in PA elections (Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz)

In an interview with Israeli Channel 2 news aired Friday, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that the administration of President George W. Bush had reached the conclusion that the entire Palestinian Authority leadership should be replaced, and not just chairman Yasser Arafat, after determining the Palestinian Authority hadn't done enough to fight terror.

"This is not about Chairman Arafat, this is a political system that needs to change so that you can have accountability in institutions, financial transparency and accountability, security services that are accountable," she said.

"Never again should one man hold sway over the lives of the entire Palestinian population," she said.

One of the things that Richard Brookhiser talked about on his PBS program on George Washington is how rare a moment in world history it was when Washington turned in his commission and went back to Mount Vernon after the Revolution was won. Then, as if that were not sufficient, he also refused to run for a third term as president, even though he certainly would have won.

Men like George Washington don't exactly come along every day, and we can hardly be surprised that Yassir Arafat turns out to be no Washington, but mightn't we ponder for a moment whether Israel did not make a significant mistake several years ago when they failed to just grant the Palestinians a state. In addition to the variety of reasons we've outlined here in the past, this would have given Arafat the opportunity to be the "Father of his Country" and its first ruler and he could now be prevailed upon to surrender the stage so that the next generation of leaders could take over. As is, even if you think he's evil, as I do, it is easy to see why it would be difficult for him to step aside when he's come so close to winning an independent Palestinian state.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 13, 2002 5:49 AM