THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM

A 3RD INTIFADA (Amir Taheri, 7/21/04, New York Post)

'LET the Palestinian street speak!" This was the threat launched by Yas ser Arafat at the end of the year 2000 when the final round of U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel hit the wall raised by the Palestinian leader.

Waving a finger at Madeleine Albright, President Bill Clinton's secretary of state, Arafat forecast "an explosion of anger on the streets of Palestine."

Almost four years later, this is what is happening in the Palestinian territories controlled by Arafat. But the anger of the "Palestinian street" is aimed at neither the United States nor Israel. The target is Arafat and the corrupt and cynical nomenklatura that make up his entourage.

What is happening in Gaza and, to a growing extent, in the West Bank also is a genuine intifada aimed at bringing down yet another Arab tyranny.

Unlike the two previous intifadas, however, this one has a genuinely popular base. It is not cooked up by some political machine backed by this or that outside power. Nor is it a wanton exercise in violence against civilians, whether Israeli or Palestinian.

The danger here is that the Left and far Right have so much vested in hating George W. Bush, the neocons and the idea of Reforming the Islamic world that they'll deny what's happening and make it more difficult for us to exploit the opportunity.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 24, 2004 8:01 AM