NOW HE TELLS THEM?:

Arafat aide says uprising is catastrophe (GREG MYRE, November 28, 2002, Chicago Sun-Times)

Yasser Arafat's top deputy said taking up arms against Israel has been a mistake for the Palestinians and must be stopped, declaring that the use of weapons had held up Palestinian independence and led to a reoccupation of West Bank cities by Israeli troops.

The comments by Mahmoud Abbas, a possible successor to the politically weakened Arafat, were made at a closed-door meeting of party leaders last month and constitute the harshest criticism a senior Palestinian figure has leveled at militants since violence erupted in September 2000.

Unfortunately, having let the fury out of the box, they may not be able to reign it in. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 28, 2002 3:50 PM