Nearly 30 political parties are vying in Israel\’s Jan. 28 general elections. According to the latest polls, about 15 parties stand a chance of getting at least 1.5 percent of the vote, the threshold for getting at least one of the Knesset\’s 120 seats.
The bombs that ripped through crowds of Israelis and foreign workers in Tel Aviv this weekend may have saved Yasser Arafat from making some tough decisions.
Internal and external pressures have been building on Arafat to allow comprehensive reforms of the Palestinian Authority — reforms that effectively would undermine the PA president\’s grip on power.
But after Sunday\’s deadly attack by the Al-Aksa Brigade, a terrorist group from Arafat\’s own Fatah movement, Israel refused to allow Palestinian officials to attend a conference on PA reform in London or congregate in Ramallah to consider a draft of a Palestinian constitution.
Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that there is no need for Palestinian officials to travel abroad to conferences when they have the power at home to end terrorist attacks, but don\’t use it.
Unintentionally, however, the Israeli moves may have allowed Arafat to dodge a political bullet, at least temporarily.
Sometimes, they say, hope shines brightest in the darkest hours.
Those inclined to look on the bright side might say that Israeli-Palestinian cooperation is alive and kicking: Israelis and Palestinians allegedly joined ranks to make big money, until one of them woke up with a bad conscience.
The joint venture in question began in February 1997, when Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat transferred official Palestinian Authority funds from the Arab Bank in Ramallah to private accounts in Swiss banks. The money was Palestinian, mostly customs and levies on products imported into the Palestinian Authority via Israel.
This latest confrontation could lead the Palestinian society to a fitna (Arabic for civil war).
Since the intifada began two years ago, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had boasted that Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem had opted to stay out of the violence for fear of losing Israeli social service benefits.
"We will never go hungry," Ahmad Zughayer boasted as a truck from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) unloaded sacks of flour, sugar, oil, rice and milk powder in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat chose to view President George W. Bush\’s speech in the most positive light, rejecting the call for his ouster and focussing instead on the promise for a state.
Life seems to be returning to normal in Ramallah — but beneath the surface, Palestinians are questioning their regime in unprecedented ways.
These battleground spoils cannot explode or kill, but Israel considers them important benefits of its military operation in the West Bank: Thousands of documents, pamphlets and posters that provide written evidence of the Palestinian Authority\’s massive involvement in terrorism. The documents were captured at places like Yasser Arafat\’s headquarters in Ramallah and other P.A. offices, offices of the P.A.\’s Preventive Security Service and Arafat\’s Tanzim militia, Palestinian organizations throughout the West Bank and the Palestinian Liberation Organization\’s (PLO) Jerusalem headquarters at Orient House.
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