November 8, 2004

SO 20TH CENTURY:

Concern for Arafat May Not Go Deep: The Palestinian leader has clashed with Arab governments as well as his supporters. His wife assails top officials planning to visit him. (John Daniszewski, November 8, 2004, LA Times)

For almost four decades, Yasser Arafat has been lionized as the symbol of the Palestinians' struggle for liberation. But as he lies, reportedly near death, in a Paris hospital, sorrow among Arabs appears faint, and in some quarters there is a sense of relief.

Regional analysts say Arafat became a leader who held on to power too long, and whose passing might provide a fresh opportunity to advance peace with Israel and the Palestinian cause.


He ceased to matter on 6/24/02

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 8, 2004 8:59 AM
Comments

The fence and the Gaza pullout were both essential elements of settling the problem. Once Arafat is finally declared dead, the various Arab factions can start killing each other without Israelis getting caught in the crossfire. Once they've run out of bullets or Arabs or once there's been a winner, then they can settle down to the hard business of negotiation. Only when the so-called Palestinians select a leader who can either negotiate a peace, or engage in a new rejectionism, can a modus vivendi be established.

This is why much as it pains me, the Israelis had to withdraw from Gaza and why they have to effectively cede much of Judea and Samaria to the so-called Palestinians.

Posted by: Bart at November 8, 2004 11:54 AM

And now the Struggle for the Throne begins, from an intensive care unit in France to numbered accounts in Geneva to martyrdom bomb-belts on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank...

Daggers, poison, and bomb-belts...

Posted by: Ken at November 8, 2004 12:24 PM

Six Feet is deep enough for me!

Posted by: Genecis at November 8, 2004 12:48 PM

Abu Mazen then elections. It'll be rather painless.

Posted by: oj at November 8, 2004 3:32 PM

Unlike the search for the treasure chest. But I'll bet Chirac knows where the money is.

Posted by: jim hamlen at November 9, 2004 3:30 PM
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