From Business Week...Sharon & Arafat....Two Terrorists that will hopefully roast in Hell together...
Why Sharon and Arafat Need Each Other
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders owe each other for their stature, and their people owe their suffering to both of the old warriors
You hear all the time about how much Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hate each other. They probably do. But these two aging men owe each other a huge debt of gratitude as well. Without the other, neither would be where he is today.
Let's start with Sharon. He never would have become Prime Minister without Arafat's help. Not that long ago, Sharon was considered out of the running because of his age, uncompromising views on peace with Israel's Arab neighbors, and association with the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon in 1982.
Sharon, 74, owes his rehabilitation to the Palestinians and Arafat. The latest intifada, or uprising, which began two years ago, so irritated and frightened the Israelis that they turned to the retired general in February, 2000. Sharon lit the match with his walk on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in September, 2000. The wave of suicide bombings that started early this year strengthened his hand. Israelis who had vowed to emigrate if Sharon ever became Prime Minister now say he had no choice but to go into the West Bank.
GOOD PUBLICITY. Heightened tensions have given Arafat a huge boost as well. The 72-year-old much more of a mainstream leader in the Palestinian context than Sharon is in Israel's. He has been the Palestinian leader since 1968. But Arafat's popularity waned as his people turned against the Oslo peace process and seethed over reports of corruption in the Palestinian National Authority.
Now, Sharon has allowed Arafat to get back into their good graces. Television images of his courage and hardships under siege have proved wonderful publicity tools. Skeptical Palestinians such as the Jerusalem leader Sari Nusseibeh worry that the hero's stature Arafat has gained in his showdown with Sharon may make him even less willing to compromise. "He is inscrutable. No one knows what he thinks," Nusseibeh says.
While their leaders posture, the Palestinian and Israeli people are suffering. The bombings have had a profound effect on the Israeli psyche, with parents constantly fearing for their children's safety and young children deeply anxious. The instability and a building international political backlash against the Israeli actions also threaten Israel's economy, which was red hot until the intifada quashed growth (see BW, 4/29, "Israel: The Cost of War").
DEPRESSING TABLEAU. The Palestinians have been hit much harder, as I found on a recent visit to the West Bank and Gaza, the territories Arafat was given to rule. The West Bank town of Ramallah used to be a pleasant, cultured place. It has lost that aura.
A few days ago, when I rode through an Israeli checkpoint in an armored vehicle belonging to the BBC, I found a depressing tableau. Israeli tanks had ground the pavement to dust. The streets were littered with crushed cars. Shops had been smashed and burned. The air was filled with an acrid mixture of dust, tear gas, and smoke from burning garbage.
I was in Ramallah during the first brief lifting of curfew in three days. People were scrambling to stock up on what food they could find. At the bank branches that hadn't been trashed, people waited in long lines for cash, which was being rationed out at 20 shekels, or a little under $5, per person.
NO WINNERS. Surveying the damage with a local friend, I found myself wondering what was the point of it all. There are few signs that show these events have brought Palestinians any closer to their goal: an end to Israeli occupation of their land. I also doubt the brutal sweep of the West Bank will enhance Israel's security over the long run. The Israeli operation may well reduce bombings and other attacks for weeks or months -- although even this isn't sure.
Surely, the heavy toll in casualties and damage to property will also increase hostility toward the Israelis among the Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim worlds. In the medium-term, that will make Israel less secure.
The best hope, in my view, is that Sharon's push into the West Bank will lead to a reassessment on both sides. Some Palestinians are already saying their leadership must take some of the responsibility for allowing provocations that brought the Israeli military into populated areas. But as long as Sharon keeps the pressure on, most Palestinians will be reluctant to criticize Arafat. Palestinian attitudes may well harden.
MOVING TO THE RIGHT. Hawks also have the upper hand in Israeli politics. More than 18 months of violence have severely weakened the Israeli peace camp -- perhaps the most important advocates of a deal with the Palestinians. At the moment, Sharon's main rival for the election that must be held by fall 2003 is another right-winger, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As they jockey for their party's nomination, the two are likely to try to one-up each other on toughness toward the Arabs, pushing Israeli politics even further to the right.
The coming months are likely to see unilateral efforts by Sharon to reshape the Palestinian areas to his liking. That means using fences to try to keep people from coming into Israel from the West Bank. While such methods are already in place in Gaza, the West Bank will be much tougher to seal off. Sharon will also continue to toy with trying to enforce a change in the Palestinian leadership, using such means as storming Arafat's compound or exiling the Palestinian chief to Gaza or outside the country.
These are very risky games that could -- if they backfire -- send shock waves across the region and the world. Already, the Saudis are feeling enough political pressure to help the Palestinians that they're resorting to threats of using oil supplies as a negotiating weapon. Because a majority of Jordanians trace their roots to historic Palestine, Jordan's King Abdullah is vulnerable to Palestinian turmoil. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak also feels threatened, although the Egyptian security forces should be up to the task of maintaining control.
Sadly, the two old men don't seem greatly concerned by the troubles they're causing others -- including the U.S. Instead, both seem enchanted with what may be a last opportunity to occupy center stage.
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London bureau chief Reed recently spent two weeks in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza covering the story for BusinessWeek
Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
Sharon & Arafat both have a lot of blood on their hands. Neither can claim the higher ground. But Republican American politicians, searching for every vote in the next election, greedily want to send Israel more foreign aid so they can chirp to their Jewish constitutents how much they are helping Israel.
I say cut off all foreign aid to Israel until they tow the suggested American Foreign Policy Line. Why increase the allowance of an insubordinate child? Is there any reason why American Tax dollars should be wasted on those that snub their noses at suggestions by the US and and the UN?
Just My unbiased opinion as usual....Jerome |
