Israel has provided evidence that Arafat financed and oversaw terrorist attacks.
Of course, these attacks totally violate past agreements, which ironically put Arafat in charge of providing security for most or all of the West Bank.
What should various parties do with this information and what will they do? E.g.
[ul]
[li]Israel arrests Arafat and tries hiim for terrorism[/li][li]US puts the PLO and Arafat personally on their terrorist list[/li][li]Europe stops giving financial support to Arafat and apologizes to Israel for their past support[/li][/ul] Well, that’s the actions I’d like to see. However, my guess is that these parties will make no change in response to this new information.
At the very least we can put to rest the myth that Arafat and the Palestinians in power want to make an honest effort towards peace. Maybe Israel should just stop negotiations with Arafat. Why negotiate with someone who doesn’t do so in good faith?
Of course not. People will continue to believe that Israel is in the wrong just as much as the Palestinian authorities.
Just look at Urban Ranger for the effect that this treachery has on those disposed in that direction: nil.
Nothing Arafat does will make anyone do anything to him. And he knows it. And he takes total advantage of it. That’s what makes the situation over there so impossible.
And now the word is that Powell is going to meet with him anyway, despite the big suicide bombing on the day of his arrival.
I find this all pretty frustrating. I get the field that Arafat could personally machine-gun a schoolyard full of kids, and the Americans would go, “Hey, cut that out, or for SURE we’re going to stop talking to you! Don’t do it again!”
In the meantime, all someone has to do in Afghanistan is look at an American the wrong way, and he’s going to get a couple thousands pounds of JDAM action dropping on his head.
Let’s take it as given that Arafat is both condoning and actively supporting terrorism and that Israel has every right and obligation to do whatever is needed to prevent (or at least reduce) future attacks. Still, what path to peace do you see without involving Arafat? Wasn’t it Rabin who had said “You don’t make peace treaties with your friends.”
All I know is, leaving a vicious terrorist as the head of state isn’t the way to do it. Who could possibly be worse?
Ultimately, I think there is going to have to be buffer zones and pacification. I wouldn’t be surprised if an ultimate solution involves a complete Israeli withdrawal, an establishment of buffer zones, and then policing by an international group hopefully made up of muslim troops like Jordanians or Turks. Or failing that, perhaps a U.N. peacekeeping team.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if my grandchildren are still talking about the Palestinian problem 50 years from now.
Rabin was right on. However there’s no reason to negotiate with your enemy if it is clear that your enemy doesn’t want peace. Not only has Arafat not done his part to prevent terrorism but he has actively been involved in promoting it. It seems clear to me that negotiations with Arafat is not a path to peace.
Well, Tom Friedman, the guy who brought us the Saudi peace plan and got all the Arab states to say in public under what conditions they would be willing to live with Israel, also said that eventually American troops would be needed to police the border between Israel and the Palestinian areas.
Perhaps NATO troops or some combo of some nations or even UN troops, but someone is going to wind up policing that border, it looks like.
…And that’s very dangerous, because it risks drawing other powers into the conflict. If another Lebanon Barracks attack occurs and kills a couple of hundred American or British or Canadian soldiers, then they’ll be drawn into the conflict.
With Arafat there is the potential of a figure who has enough support among the different Arab factions that he maybe could deliver on a crack down … if somehow he was actually a leader with the good of his people in mind. (I know, he has proven that he does not, or he would have settled with the offer from Barak.)
What could be worse? Having no one with even that one chance in Hell to talk to. Given the choice between one chance in Hell and none …