Hello, Erin,
Glad you are joining our little seminar on Middle Eastern international
relations.
Arafat IS 'weak', in the sense that he cannot simply impose his will on or
'control' people. Palestinians are highly political -- they debate politics
a lot--especially in coffee houses--and hold widely divergent opinions. They
are formed into different parties, and the parties hold various seats in
their council. Arafat is the head of the largest group, and it in its turn
is composed of several subgroups, each with its own leadership that may or
may not like what Arafat is trying to do. Like all leaders of coalition
governments, Arafat is stronger when his position is centrist, and weaker
when he is out 'in front' (or 'behind') the rest of the people.
Now, the Palestinians have probably shifted as a result of the last months
towards more of a hard position against Israel, and so Arafat's position of
negotiations with the Israelis has probably left him politically weaker. On
the other hand, there is a surge of admiration for his courage in standing
up to Israeli attacks and destruction.
The Israelis made a mistake in thinking that they could find Palestinians
more pliable than Arafat with which to 'negotiate.' Everyone, as far as I
can see, has rallied around Arafat. In my view, Arafat was the best chance
for the Israelis, but they have lost whatever goodwill they had on the part
of Palestinians. It is popular for people who are pro-Israeli to say that
the Palestinians want only one thing, to 'kill the Jews,' but anyone who
knows Palestinians and who reads their press knows that this is nonsense.
So we are left with a very interesting situation, as I see it: Arafat, who
was a staunch advocate of a negotiated compromise settlement with the
Israelis, came to be so hated by Sharon that they sought to eliminate him,
and in so doing strengthened the support for Arafat among those very
Palestinian extremists who were doubting his will to stand up to the
Israelis.
Maybe what we ought to do is take the Palestinian extremists (e.g. Hamas,
Hizb-allah) and the Israeli extremists (e.g. Likud), and ship them off to
some deserted island to duke it out. Meanwhile, the rest of the
Palestinians and Israelis, who I hope are still in the majority of their
respective populations, could get on with the difficult but essential job of
hammering out a fair settlement. And there is still an huge amount of
hammering yet to be done. If something like this does not happen, the
peoples are doomed to even far greater suffering than either has experienced
thus far.
Best regards,
Lawry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk
> [mailto:owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk]On Behalf Of enoonan
> Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 4:56 PM
> To: moq_discuss@moq.org
> Subject: RE: MD Middle east bias test
>
>
> Hey all,
>
> After that clip they often showed a clip with a man commenting
> that he thought
> terrorists were just doing their jobs and he compared it to doctor or
> something. I found that clip of categorizing terrorism as an
> occupation much
> more disturbing. I understand that the man may not be
> representative of the
> group but it was definitely not about the Gulf War.
>
> Marco:More likely, Arafat is just a weak leader, unable to
> control his own
> people.
>
> I was wondering if anybody could tell me if this statement has
> any validity or
> not. I heard that Arafat gives mixed messages. In English he talks about
> wanting peace and a desire to work out a resolution and then to
> his people his
> message is much more extreme..which was summed up as "kill all the Jews."
> True or not true?
>
> Erin
>
>
>
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