>And so it continues but, of course, Arafat was the problem!
Arafat was one of a number of problems.
I haven't been following this situation much lately, but...
Over the last few months since Arafat's death, I know that while Israel remains less helpful and more heavy-handed than I'd like and while our country has remained stupidly unengaged from the situation, but Sharon has:
-Pushed through his Gaza disengagement plan, which could've killed his career
-Embraced Shimon Peres and Yossi Beilin and much of the Israeli left
-Alienated much of the fanatic right
-Discussed closing some West Bank settlements
This is all much more than I'd have ever expected him to do, in a good way (though he really needs to do much more).
In the meantime, Abbas has:
-Said that he will not disarm Hamas and the other militant groups
-Tried to embraced Hamas and the other militant groups
-Used the term "The Zionist Enemy" to refer to Israel, a term that's normally only used by the militant groups, and one that implies that Israel is illegitimate and shouldn't exist.
My jury's still out on Abbas (though I didn't expect much from a guy who wrote his college thesis saying the Holocaust didn't happen), and I'm willing to give him quite a bit more time, given that things are relatively peaceful there, but I think he's just another part of the problem.
Having said all that, I really don't give a crap; there's too much to worry about elsewhere and this situation just seems intractable.
-Z |
