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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (37325)	8/12/2002 3:13:29 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Interesting viewpoint of the Palestinian 'government' today: Arafat's Quasi-Intifada Behind the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation By Ehud Ya'ari The chaotic situation today [in the West Bank and Gaza] was consciously, deliberately, and intentionally introduced by Chairman Arafat, though it has extended beyond the time frame he originally conceived. I describe his actions as a willing suspension of control, first exercised on the night of September 28, 2000, when he issued the orders and instructions to his political leadership and the different commanders of the security agencies to embark upon this endeavour. The order for the formal security forces was to stick to the sidelines and allow the irregulars – what later came to be known as the national and Islamic forces, an alliance of Tanzim, Hamas, Jihad, and the Fronts – to do the job. This chaotic situation at the outset was intended to create the false impression that this quasi-intifada was some sort of replay of the first intifada – an eruption of popular resentment – and not a direct challenge to Israel by the PA led by Chairman Arafat. The United Palestinian Emirates I call the situation "intifouda," "fouda" in Arabic meaning anarchy, and many Palestinians agree with this description. The situation has turned the areas under Palestinian control into something more resembling the United Palestinian Emirates. One of the major concepts of Oslo was that at the end of the road there would be a strong, centralised Palestinian authority/government. Somebody very strong was supposed to be controlling the Palestinian areas and making sure there was no terrorism. This concept is gone and will not be returning for a long time. What we have now is the diversion of authority and power from the central government into the different districts. Therefore, from now on, we will have coalitions forming on the ground, and they are already forming very rapidly, with a leadership that will at one point replace Arafat. We are heading towards a system in the territories which will have at least two, but probably up to four or more, undeclared principalities, each controlled, as they are now, by a different local coalition, each cooperating in different degrees with the coalitions in the other areas. A central government is going to shape up, once we hopefully reach the exit to this intifada, and it is going to look much different from what was originally conceived in Oslo. cont. at aijac.org.au

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (37325)	8/12/2002 10:43:49 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 281500

Thank you for that post, Hawk. You have said precisely what not only myself, but many other people in this country believe. I have always made it a practice to: Beware of self-righteous people. Extremism in ANY religion that seeks to use violent means to destroy democratic and pluralistic values MUST be opposed. And I don't care if that includes "pro-lifers" bombing abortion clinic, white separatists bombing black churches, or reactionary Zionists who believe they can shoot unarmed civilians on the West Bank. The whole issue is there is a civilized and peaceful manner in which to promote one's ideas and views, and we are obligated to create such an exchange. But those views MUST be complimentary to preserving political opposition in a marketplace of ideas, not through sheer terror and intimidation. There must be adherence to such peaceful resolution of disagreements FROM ALL SIDES, or the result is a tyranny of the minority. And our ideas and values were attacked by tyrannical regimes and entities which have NO DESIRE to see democratic pluralism. Regimes and entities who will include suicide attacks as a weapon of terror. There's a big difference between a population VOTING for more conservative laws, and having it imposed upon them through terror and intimidation. And that's what is occuring now in the middle east.