From today's Haaretz:
Chronic havoc
By Danny Rubinstein
It is highly likely that, sometime in the future, a research study will come to the conclusion that one of the primary reasons for the collapse of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians was the chronic and utter havoc that reigned supreme in the Palestinian regime.
For years, most of the residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been aware of the fact that the government apparatus running the Palestinian Authority could be described as total chaos. The problem is not just the corruption and the fringe benefits enjoyed by cronies; the root of the trouble is the absence of any of the basic norms of a properly-functioning government. A judicial system is almost non-existent; money is squandered shamelessly; and almost all of the PA's government agencies are characterized by gross inefficiency and overlappings.
All these woes can be attributed to one source - none other than the PA's chairman, Yasser Arafat himself. Even his most ardent admirers among the Palestinian leadership recognize the facts and admit that they have never met a worse administrator or a worse layer of plans. A well-known Palestinian saying making the rounds these days is that Arafat always gives one car to two drivers, demanding from them that they both hold the steering wheel and drive the car jointly - and in opposite directions.
Apparently, the situation has a lot to do with Arafat's mode of behavior as a diplomat who has managed to survive in the Middle East's political arena for the past 35 years. In the context of Israel's new national sport, "Arafatology," a term coined by journalist Hafez Barghouti (of Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, the PA's official newspaper), it is now acceptable for Israelis to perceive Arafat as an incorrigible, pathological liar, an arch illusionist, and to refuse to believe a word he says. However, political scientists would argue that such negative traits are characteristic of many politicians and are, in fact, what enable these politicians to survive. After all, what is politics if not the art of maneuvering out of awkward situations and using aggressive game plans in order to do so?
In any event, Arafat has a reputation for being an expert in the art of ruses. He draws his rivals and followers into his inner circle and distances them at the same time; he simultaneously seduces and repels; he hands out promises as if they were going out of style and then breaks every one of them; he threatens and bribes; he wears the smile of the Cheshire cat and whines - all the while exerting the rigid self-control of a soccer player whose performance is extremely difficult to fathom. Sometimes, he acts like a silly clown; and then, the next moment, he is a raging dictator or a compassionate father.
Arafat's admirers claim that it is only thanks to such qualities that he has succeeded in being such a brilliant player in the Middle East arena. Arafat, say his admirers, has pulled his people out of the abyss of oblivion; he has transformed the Palestinians from refugees in desperate need of a tent into a nation with its own unique political identity that is currently in a struggle with the State of Israel over how to divide up what was once British Mandatory Palestine.
Nevertheless, Arafat's traits as a politician have almost certainly been a serious drawback with regard to his capacity as the leader of a state-in-the-making. The reason is that you cannot use clever maneuvers or fancy tricks when you want to build up a regime or a state.
Arafat has hundreds of advisers and his offices are managed by hundreds and hundreds of directors-generals. His security services are a complex network of private armies that regard each other as rivals, while all of the PA's agencies are a chaotic structure characterized by competing centers of power. Although Arafat himself knows how to outmaneuver the security services and the various other agencies in his regime in order to maintain his standing, their level of performance is absolutely dismal. In the past, they were unable to maintain any semblance of order on the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip; while today, they are incapable of restoring calm or bringing about a cease-fire.
This chaos is close to being a 100-percent guarantee that when it occurs, the transition from Arafat's regime to that of his successor will be traumatic and will create serious crises in Palestinian society and among the Palestinian leadership. Because of the characteristic features of Arafat's leadership, the standing of those in his immediate circle is determined in accordance with the degree of closeness of their ties with him. T
he closer these ties, the more solid the standing and the greater the power and influence of a certain individual. However, the moment Arafat leaves the political stage, the criterion used to evaluate the personalities and centers of power in the Palestinian leadership will disappear. In other words, there is the danger that the PA's chronic havoc could intensify.
As noted above, the current havoc is already considerable and is one of the major factors that is preventing any end to the present bloody conflict |
