NYT has another long piece by Bennet on the confused state of Gaza. Excerpt:
Four years ago, Palestinian negotiators were debating with Israeli counterparts how to share Jerusalem. Now, with not only the United States but also the United Nations and Egypt lining up behind Mr. Sharon, Palestinian leaders are haggling with each other over how to run Gaza.
There is an elegiac quality to the way some Palestinian reformers and other politicians talk now about the Oslo years and their own faded visions of a democratic Palestine with its capital in Jerusalem.
They hold Israel - its occupation, its military pressure on the Palestinians, its attacks on the Palestinian Authority - ultimately responsible. But they also say that Palestinians lost control of their national movement and international image, failing to adapt as American, European and Arab attitudes shifted under the shock of the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
They speak of historic opportunities lost, obliterated by inchoate violence that has scarred a generation. They wonder how a process of reconciliation symbolized by a handshake on the White House lawn became a process of separation and alienation symbolized by the Israeli barrier around Gaza, and the new one rising at the West Bank.
nytimes.com
In short, they're tired, confused, divided into factions, not sure they want Hamas but certain Fatah and Arafat are going nowhere. Dahlan is trying to build a base, with mixed success. My prognosis: nothing much changes until Arafat dies.
Was there ever such a people for making themselves hostage to a leader they know is no good? |
