Subject:
[ei] Humiliating Arafat (full text) | Report: West Bank "security barrier"
Date:
Wed, 16 Jul 2003 17:22:35 -0500
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UPDATE FROM THE
ELECTRONIC INTIFADA

 http://electronicIntifada.net

16 July 2003 -- 5:20PM US CST
_______________________________


Opinion/Editorial
HUMILIATING ARAFAT
Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada, 16 July 2003

For web version with photos, visit:
 http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1706.shtml
------------------------------------------------------

Israel's rulers have renewed their threats to arrest or deport Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. In the past, the Israeli government even hinted at murdering him.
In interviews with British and Italian newspapers, Israel's P rime Minister Ariel Sharon accused Arafat of undermining his own prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. He also urged Europeans to boycott Arafat and to end all contacts with him, following the example of the United States, Israel and Italy.

Arafat has been conf ined to his shattered headquarters in
Ramallah since Israel placed him under house arrest over
fifteen months ago.

The UK government refused this request when Sharon pressed
it during his recent visit to London. Yet, despite the
fact that many European a nd other countries have refused
to abide by Washington and Tel Aviv's decree that Arafat
is no longer the Palestinian leader, his real authority
has been steadily declining. The appointment of Abbas,
pushed by the Bush administration, was supposed to fini sh
him off.

Both US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, during their recent
visits to the region, not only avoided Arafat but
travelled all the way to Jericho to meet Abbas, thereby
avoiding even the city of Ra mallah where Arafat is being
held prisoner by the Israelis.

Arafat was originally dropped because the Israelis claimed
that he was behind the continuation of the Intifada and
that he had not kept his promises to crush those among his
people who insist th at as long as there is foreign
military occupation there must be resistance. But Arafat
did, in fact, repeatedly condemn violence -- in English
and in Arabic -- and called on his people to end
resistance or violence in all its forms.

He even condemned so me Palestinian groups as "terrorist"
and pledged to pursue and dismantle them. Responding to
Israeli and American demands, Arafat kept calling on his
people to observe instant and unconditional ceasefires,
ordering them to even refrain from firing in self-defence
when attacked by the occupier. He continued to do that
long after his security forces were virtually destroyed,
many of their members murdered or arrested by their former
Israeli colleagues. He did all this even after cruel
atrocities, which prov oked international outrage, were
inflicted on his people by Israel, and even after Sharon
declared that Palestinians should be killed in large
numbers so that they understand Israel's "message."

None of this, not even the major concessions Arafat made
wi thin the framework of the Oslo accords, has been enough
to spare him the wrath of the Americans and the Israelis
whose reward to him was demonisation, humiliation and
abandonment.

In the view of both the Americans and the Israelis,
Arafat's true crime is that he failed, in the final stage
of the plot, to bless the deal they tailored for him, when
he allegedly refused to sign up to "Barak's generous
offer" at Camp David in July 2001.

Abbas was chosen by the United States as an unelected,
alternate Palestinian leader who could be bullied and
bribed into doing what Arafat failed to do earlier. Abbas
is now anxiously and willingly treading exactly the same
path of surrender and obedience that Arafat trod before
him. Except, in Abbas' case, it will not take him as long
to reach the same dead end in which Arafat finds himself.

Abbas has so far been unable to deliver on any of his
commitments, such as ending the Intifada, dismantling the
resistance groups, collecting their weapons and ending
their existence. He has failed to enforce his recent claim
that there is only one authority and only the weapons
carried and authorised by that authority will be legal,
and everything else would have to be brought under strict
control. He has kept quiet in the face of def iant Hamas
and other resistance groups, challenging declarations that
they would not surrender one piece of their weapons or
relinquish their right to resist the occupation until the
occupation ends.

All he managed to secure, with utmost difficulty, pers onal
appeals and with substantial help from other neighbouring
countries, is a limited, conditional ceasefire. The one
positive element is that Palestinian groups agreed to stop
attacks targeting Israeli civilians, without relinquishing
the right to resis t by force against the occupation
itself. But the other conditions they attached to the
ceasefire demonstrated that Abbas had to succumb to the
reality that there is more than one authority, that Hamas
and the other resistance groups were negotiating from a
position of strength, and probably taking the initiative.

The Americans and the Israelis want one thing from Abbas.
He has to deliver an end to the Intifada and to dismantle
the Palestinians' capacity to fight back against Israeli
aggression. This, he will not be able to achieve by any
means.

Abbas' meagre achievement, lack of credibility and
unpopularity among the people he was imposed on are
forcing Israel to look for an alternative explanation for
the dramatic failure of their plan. The handy scap egoat
is, as usual, Arafat, who is accused of undermining Abbas'
mission. Naturally, Israel's refusal to implement any of
the roadmap's requirements, whether it is a freeze on
settlements, the release of prisoners or an end to
incitement and violence agai nst Palestinians, is not
thought to have anything to do with the crisis.

Abbas has been described as a weak leader by American and
Israeli officials, and indeed he is. Throughout his long
political career, any influence he had was derived from
and depend ent upon support from Arafat. It is ironic,
therefore, that the Americans now think they can get
anywhere by placing Abbas in a position where he is
supposed to rival and challenge Arafat.

Even if Arafat does not take any steps to actively
obstruct Abbas, and he has not, his mere presence makes
Abbas' position all but impossible. But his removal is by
no means a better alternative.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the Israelis have been
escalating their campaign against Arafat. They may truly
believe that with Arafat out of the way, Abbas will
transform himself into a strong leader. This is another
fallacy which will be instantly disproved if the Israelis
carry out their threats against Arafat. Abbas will simply
be further weakened and his authority f urther challenged
by people who have so far been restrained only by Arafat's
presence at the head of the Palestinian National
Authority.


Hasan Abu Nimah is former Permanent Representative of
Jordan at the United Nations and a former Jordanian
ambassador. He is a regular contributor to EI.

----------------------------

Human Rights
SPECIAL REPORT ON THE WEST BANK SECURITY BARRIER
Report, UNRWA, 15 July 2003

UNRWA carried out field visits to examine the effects of
the barrier on the livelihoods of local residents, with
special emphasis on registered refugees. Most of the
northern Green Line towns and villages accommodate refugee
families. Certain villages, in particular - Atil, Baqa
esh-Sharqiya, Barta'a esh-Sharqiya, Taibeh, Rumana and
Zububa - contain significant, even majority, refugee
populations. Qalqiliya town, contains 4,000 refugee
families, the UNRWA hospital and other facilities, and
will be hermetically sealed.

 http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article1708.shtml

----------------------------

For more from EI, visit  http://electronicIntifada.net


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