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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:30
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quote:
Palestinian leaders grapple with Arafat
President accused of 'drowning' struggle in political discord
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
San Francisco Chronicle
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Ramallah, West Bank -- Incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia was meeting with his future Cabinet Thursday when a fierce argument erupted between Interior Minister-designate Gen. Nasser Yousef and President Yasser Arafat.
Qureia had asked Yousef to take the key post of deputy prime minister responsible for security forces, charged with uniting the 40,000 Palestinian police officers in 14 separate paramilitary units into one force under Cabinet control.
But Arafat was having none of it. Instead, he insisted that a proposed national security council, which he would head himself, would control the police and determine security policy.
"All revolutions in the world have succeeded, apart from the Palestinian revolution -- and that's because of your incompetence," Yousef told Arafat angrily.
According to witnesses at the meeting, Arafat rose, cursed and spat at the general.
Yousef spat back, adding: "I am a man of his word who respects agreements and doesn't lie."
The rancorous exchange revealed the deep fissures splitting the Palestinian Authority as it struggles to grapple with a conflict that has spun out of control since both Israel and the Palestinians abandoned a three-month truce and effectively shunted aside the U.S.-backed "road map" to peace.
Mohammed Dahlan, security chief under outgoing Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, said in an interview that the Palestinians are "drowning" in political infighting, and he laid the blame at Arafat's feet.
"Our Cabinet faced difficulties from the political leadership of the Palestinian Authority, in addition to the opposition factions and Israel," said Dahlan. "If this internal strife continues and if this political vacuum goes on, no one can predict what will happen."
The rancor over the Arafat-Yousef spitting match was overshadowed only minutes later when the Israeli Cabinet labeled Arafat "an obstacle to peace" and said he should be "removed" -- by means that could include expulsion and even assassination.
Now that the dust has settled, Qureia is once more trying to finalize his Cabinet. But judging by the experience of his predecessor, it will not be an easy ride.
Arafat beat back similar efforts by Abbas to wrest control of security forces from him, triggering the collapse of Abbas' government after only 100 days.
When Abbas announced his resignation on Sept. 6, he spelled out for shocked Palestinian legislators just how difficult it was to be Arafat's prime minister.
Two days earlier, masked members of Arafat's Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades -- dispatched from the Palestinian leader's compound -- had attacked the Palestinian council building and spray-painted slogans on it branding Abbas a traitor.
"Those who did so were incited against us and paid to brand us as collaborators," Abbas told the council in comments that were supposed to remain confidential but were leaked by council members.
The Al Aqsa rampage was the final straw for the proud Abbas, who said he was fighting a war of political attrition from the moment he took office.
Arafat blocked financial reforms, he said, because they threatened illegal slush funds Arafat was using to pay for the intifada.
Palestinian Authority officials' salaries are paid by the European Union, but Arafat or his cronies were skimming off up to 15 percent in income taxes and using it for their own causes, Abbas suggested. "Personally, I don't know where those funds go," he said. "When we wanted to cancel them, they said: 'You're harming the intifada.' "
Abbas also said that Arafat opposed efforts to stop paying thousands of police officers in cash -- a system that encourages corruption and the siphoning off of funds for undercover groups, such as Al Aqsa, the military wing of Arafat's Fatah organization.
Arafat objected to introducing a statutory retirement age, fearing his loyalists would be replaced. He also insisted on maintaining control over regional governors, foreign embassies and the civil service.
"A minister cannot appoint a deputy or director-general without Arafat's approval," Abbas said. "The ministers have no control over who is hired and who is fired; it all reverts to the president."
In fact, Abbas said Arafat had done everything he could to keep the spotlight off him when he was prime minister, even ordering Palestine TV to run cartoons instead of broadcasting the prime minister's meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Instead of covering his historic White House meeting with President Bush, Palestine TV aired a movie about a popular Egyptian dancer.
Early signs indicate that Qureia is not faring much better as he tries to form a government.
Members of the Fatah Central Committee -- the Arafat-dominated panel that has been invited by Qureia to nominate 16 of his 24 ministers -- said Tuesday that the discussions about the new government had been concerned only with personalities, not with policy.
"There is no plan, no discussion about the program of the new government," said one senior Fatah insider.
Saeb Erekat, a prominent Palestinian negotiator and likely minister in the new Cabinet, disputed that, saying the new government does have a vision, but he refused to specify how it would differ from its predecessor.
.5 "We have a security and political plan to resume the peace talks with Israel and organize our security forces," said Erekat. "We are also working to achieve a cease-fire that would allow the two sides to return to the negotiating table. I can't outline the security plan because the national security council is still working on it."
Dahlan insisted, however, that the national security council was simply a tool for keeping power in Arafat's hands.
"It has no practical program," he said. "What we need on the security level is to unite security efforts . . . and to organize the work of the security forces."
The adoption of the road map for peace and the appointment of a Palestinian prime minister were designed by the international community to sideline Arafat and reduce his central role in Palestinian politics.
But Israel's threat to remove Arafat has returned the Palestinian leader to center stage, stronger than ever. Persuading him to give up control of the police and paramilitary forces is thus likely to be even more difficult for Qureia than it was for Abbas.
"Yasser Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people -- he cannot be removed by outside interference," said Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh. "Nobody could fill the vacuum." |
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Eli
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Israel
Jul 2000
time: 07:30
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Knowing the incompetence of the Israeli governments, i'm pretty sure that Arafat will be here for at least a decade. Sucks.
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My Wife Hates CIV
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Michigan
Jan 1970
time: 05:30
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8 weeks and i say Arafat is history. i'm not saying he'll be dead (although i would not be surpirsed at all), but, he'll be completely out of the picture.
that's all i give him. this US veto has already set things in motion.
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GePap
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of the Big Apple
Nov 2001
time: 23:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Sirotnikov
And GePap - the Palestinians infact openly admit that whiel Arafat is alive and present, there is no way in hell anyone could do to replace him. He simply kept his people in the dark about what ever steps Abu Mazen gained. |
I have no question just how "isolated" the Pals are..I am sure enough of them have satelite dishes (which are like hotcakes in the Arab world) to know what trully is going on..whether they care to listen.. Oh, and the politicians and leaders do know what goes on, so they can continue politicking freely.
And Arafta is NOT universally liked..at soe point his approval rating went down to 28% or less: the thing is, when Israel starts to threaten him, of course the Pas will rally around him. The question is not getting rid of Arafat, but making him like Queen Elizabeth, a symbol and irrelevant.
As for the prisoner release.. I have said already elsewhere, the TRUE confidence building measure is to take down every single settlement begun since sept 2002 and a freeze on ALL new consturction, including for "natural growth". Any palestinina who could show Israle willing to work with them that far would have a much easier time in taking over. And doing that does nothing to endanger Israelis by Palestinains, only the career's, and possiblel lives of Israeli politicians at the hands of their constutients.
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Zevico
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Melbourne
Apr 2002
time: 15:30
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GePap, if he becomes a symbol he might (I am not sure of this) retain his power because he was "martryred". For that matter, Arafat would never allow that to happen.
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Sirotnikov
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<--- Yes, It's a "kitty" in a boot.
Feb 2000
time: 07:30
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quote:
I have no question just how "isolated" the Pals are..I am sure enough of them have satelite dishes (which are like hotcakes in the Arab world) to know what trully is going on..whether they care to listen.. |
And I'm sure that their satellite dishes are all tuned to Arab satellite networks, which are very used to always supporting the current leaders of each respective dictatorhip - meaning that all of them would support Arafat over abu-Mazen.
quote:
Oh, and the politicians and leaders do know what goes on, so they can continue politicking freely. |
But that is exactly the problem. No one, no matter what, can win against Arafat. You simply fail to understand the dynamics of a personified autocratic rule. There is no one that can defeat Arafat as long as he is alive.
quote:
And Arafta is NOT universally liked..at soe point his approval rating went down to 28% or less: the thing is, when Israel starts to threaten him, of course the Pas will rally around him. The question is not getting rid of Arafat, but making him like Queen Elizabeth, a symbol and irrelevant. |
But as long as he is alive, you can't make him a symbol. He is not a queen Elizabeth. He is more like chairman Stalin. There was no way that man could have been turned a symbol, no matter how unpopuar he was.
And it is also true that Arafat is not liked. Infact most palestinians hate him and his corrupt government. But as the rest of the arab world goes, they are very loyal and forgiving of their current tyranical leader.
I'm sure that once Arafat is gone, in a matter of a week or two, there will be no more demonstrations, because the money to pay people to come, will run out.
quote:
As for the prisoner release.. I have said already elsewhere, the TRUE confidence building measure is to take down every single settlement begun since sept 2002 and a freeze on ALL new consturction, including for "natural growth". |
Excuse me, I'm sure that you also support the Palestinians to take down every single building they built since september 2000, and freeze all new construction in disputed areas, including thier own natural growth.
The areas in question are disputed, and many of the existing settlements were previously destroyed and expelled in the genocidal campaign by Jordan in 1948.
quote:
Any palestinina who could show Israle willing to work with them that far would have a much easier time in taking over. And doing that does nothing to endanger Israelis by Palestinains, only the career's, and possiblel lives of Israeli politicians at the hands of their constutients. |
Inexact.
The settlements have several goals. 1 of them is to re-instate the areas of jewish settlement that existed pre-1948, before the whole west bank was cleared of Jews by Jordanian troops.
The second, according to the settlers themselves, is to draw the fire of most terrorist attacks. And to an extent - it is working. At least a half of terrorist activity is directed at settlers, who to an extent, knowingly agree to draw fire on themselves. This saves effort on protecting Tel-Aviv and other cities.
However, this does not in any way make the attacks on settlers legitimate or justified. Just because they acknowledge the existance of palestinian terrorism against civilians, and are willing to risk themselves to draw part of the fire - does not mean that it is somehow justified to hurt them.
Just as if a raging lunatic would start shooting people on the streets, and I would offer myself to coduct a diversion maneuver, it would not make it somehow "ok" to target me.
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17-09-2003 17:03
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