Yes, he does have nine lives, it seems like. First Jordan came to their rescue and ceded their claim to the West Bank.
Then Oslo.
And, they missed by 50 yards yesterday. (1st link below)
I believe the claim to the West Bank is the only possibly legitimate claim they have to anything. And I personally think that if the land was lost in battle, then it is lost. It belongs to Israel.
But, Israel even gave them more. But this only encourages terrorism, I think. The PLO says why settle, we are winning, and having a good time terrorizing as well. Why not keep terrorizing, and get Jerusalem as well? I think the only way to peace is through victory.
Well, I guess if the PLO would accept the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and enough land to integrate the areas into one, and a formal recognition of the Palestinian state, then the offer could remain on the table.
The sticking point was that there was no recognition. And Clinton set a deadline. That is what killed the peace process. Clinton's deadline for a legacy.
Definitely, he was making progress. I think formal recognition could have been negotiated. But, would it have mattered? I believe it would. I agree with Sharon, that Arafat is guilty of everything.
Analysis: Israel splits strengthens Sharon
newsalert.com
Another story:
Arafat no longer a player in Mideast peace process
Jump to first matched term
By Howard Witt
WASHINGTON _ During the latest Palestinian intifada, now in its 15th month, the question has often been posed whether Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat wanted to stop the suicide bombers staging repeated terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Arafat insisted he did; Israel scoffed that he did not.
In the wake of the weekend's triple bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa, the deadliest in months, the question has sharpened: Can Arafat stop the violence? Or has the political and military situation in the Palestinian territories spiraled so far out of control that he's helpless to do anything about it?
The United States, lacking any other Palestinian statesman of Arafat's stature with whom to deal, has previously maintained that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority is still powerful enough to rein in radical followers of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups. That was the expectation delivered by President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday.
"Now is the time that's very important for Chairman Arafat to demonstrate that he does have control, that he is a leader who is capable of making a 100 percent effort to reduce or stop the violence," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday. ". . . The president has believed for quite a period of time that Yasser Arafat is capable of doing much more than he has ever done, and now the burden is on him even heavier to show it."
As Fleischer later asked rhetorically, when asked whether Bush believed Arafat would make such an effort: "Well, what's the alternative?"
The answer is clear and distressing. If Arafat fails to crack down on the militants in his midst, the result will surely be further terror attacks and increasingly violent Israeli military reprisals, as well as international isolation.
But if Arafat does jail militant leaders, he risks further challenges to his own legitimacy, and even a potential civil war, among Palestinians who have grown increasingly radicalized in the face of ever harsher Israeli security crackdowns and refusals to curb the expansion of provocative settlements in or near Palestinian-controlled areas.
Public opinion polls suggest that some 80 percent of Palestinians support the anti-Israel attacks as a method of "self defense" against Israeli aggression and occupation.
Many younger Palestinians need look no further than the grimly lopsided body counts for more than 14 months _ 222 Israelis killed compared to 742 Palestinians _ to fuel their disillusionment with Arafat and their disgust for the peace process for which he shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
Israelis look at those same casualty figures and reach a sharply different conclusion: that they have been the victims of unprovoked terror attacks staged largely against civilians, and that the Palestinian deaths have resulted out of justified self-defense.
"Israel does not start wars," declared Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a televised address to his nation Monday. "This war of terror, as in the past, has been forced upon us. We know who has forced it upon us. We know who is guilty. We know who is responsible. Arafat is guilty of everything that is happening here. Arafat has made his strategic choices: a strategy of terrorism."
Israel launched its first reprisals for the weekend's attacks Monday, firing missiles at Arafat's helicopter compound in the Gaza Strip, his West Bank offices and the Palestinian police headquarters in Jenin. At least 17 people were injured, hospital officials said, and three of Arafat's helicopters were destroyed.
The helicopters are a potent symbol of Arafat's authority, and a primary means for him to visit the disconnected pockets of Palestinian territory spread like a checkerboard across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israelis clearly hope that the choice of such targets will prod Arafat to launch a sustained crackdown on Palestinian militants. Arafat's security forces said they had made more than 100 arrests within 24 hours of the suicide attacks, but Israeli officials said few if any of those arrested were genuine leaders of Hamas or other radical groups.
"Arafat is now coming under more pressure than he's ever been before from the United States and from Israel," said Palestinian political analyst Khalil Shikaki. "He has to deliver what he promised the Americans he would do, but his ability to do much is limited."
Arafat has cracked down on militants before, following a spate of bus bombings in 1996 and 1997. But that was at a time when a majority of Palestinians supported the peace process with the Israelis, and regarded the terrorist attacks as counterproductive.
The latest intifada was intended to pressure Israel to make concessions during peace negotiations on such issues as Israeli settlements, the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland and the status of Jerusalem. Having achieved none of those goals, Arafat fears looking especially weak if he now succumbs to Israeli demands to end the violence with nothing to show his constituents as a result.
The Palestinians say that, while demanding so much from Arafat, the Israelis have done much to hinder him, destroying police posts and tightening their crippling strangleholds around Palestinian areas with army blockades.
Yet Israeli hardliners are scarcely inclined to grant Arafat any concessions in the face of the continued terrorist attacks. In fact, Sharon and his aides have been cultivating divisions in Palestinian ranks, trying to skirt Arafat by striking ceasefire and security agreements with local Palestinian commanders on the ground. Right-wing politicians have gone further, calling for Arafat's elimination.
But many Israelis do not want Arafat to fall, fearing that chaos in the Palestinian areas and the potential ascension of a radical Islamic leadership would be the result. They realize that Arafat, however flawed, remains a national symbol of the Palestinians' struggle, and one of few Arab leaders who agreed, at least at one point, to lay down his arms against the Israelis.
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(Chicago Tribune correspondents Hugh Dellios and Stephen Franklin contributed to this report.) |
