To: LindyBill who wrote (32412 ) 6/16/2002 1:27:47 PM From: Nadine Carroll Respond to A very interesting and detailed article on the nature of the Arafat regime, by Daniel Polisar, a former member of Peace Watch, one of the monitoring groups that oversaw the PA elections in 1996. Daniel Polisar is currently editor of the Israeli magazine Azure , in which the article appears.A real look at the question of Arafat's legitimacy... has to involve a more serious examination of the origins of his rule in the wake of the 1993 Oslo accords-and particularly the crucial two-year period in which he established the Palestinian Authority and paved the way for himself and his loyalists to win a landslide victory at the polls. Such an accounting reveals a disturbing picture, of a PLO leadership that-after having been brought in from Tunis amid widespread jubilation-used every means at its disposal to ensure that the Palestinian voter would have only one viable option as to which political party would represent him, and only one real candidate to vote for as president. Under these conditions, Arafat's landslide victory was not an expression of democratic will, but rather a testament to the success of the measures he employed. shalem.org.il
