I do not disagree with you at all, but I do not understand your point ... Sharon created this disaster so he could destroy the peace process ... that certainly is leadership, and it got him elected, but where did he help anyone but the Likud's own agenda = no peace means Israel keeps the settlements in the West Bank ... that's Sharon's goal ...
No, I think Arafat created this disaster when he walked away from Camp David and Taba, before Sharon was in power. Sharon didn't create this disaster, he just got elected by it. There is hard evidence that the Tanzim were assembled and paid for in the summer of 2000 -- what for, if not an 'intifada'?
Sharon's grandstand was the pretext for starting the violence, that's all. If Arafat hadn't wanted to start the intifada, there might have been three days of unrest. Instead, the Voice of Palestine TV declared "Days of Rage" and began showing days of footage of the first intifada, to make sure everybody got the message. If Arafat didn't actually strike the first blow, he hopped on the violence quickly enough; it was a godsend to him. The next generation of Palestinian leadership were fed up with Arafat's corruption and failure to deliver; if he hadn't started the intifada, the guns would have been pointed at him. The following article gives good background on the start of the intifada, from a Palestinian commentator.
Arafat and the Anatomy of a Revolt
by Professor Yezid Sayigh, Bir Zeit University
iiss.org |
