(Telegraph-UK) There was a time when it was impossible to escape the sight of Arafat's face beaming down from half the walls in Ramallah. Last week there was not a single portrait to be seen, as Arafat sits in his battered compound, afraid to leave in case the Israelis block his return. After a decade of misrule, Palestinians seem to have lost faith in their president. "Arafat should go immediately," said Imad Muna, an eastern Jerusalem bookseller. "This is not a political opinion. This is not an extremist opinion. It's the opinion of the majority of people." Palestinians are coming to realize that far from being ignorant of the dirty dealings of his underlings, Arafat stands atop the pyramid of corruption, says Abdel Sattar Kassem, professor of political science at al-Najah University in Nablus.
2004-09-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive