(Jerusalem Post) Khaled Abu Toameh - The editor of the London-based, Saudi-affiliated daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Abd Al-Rahman al-Rashed, on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Palestinian Authority and accused its leaders of working for personal interests. Headlined "The Palestinian Leadership Must Go," Rashed wrote of "the Ramallah leadership": "Isn't it shameful that these are the figures dragging the entire Arab world into a struggle that they describe as 'central,' while, in its present form...it is no more than a personal farce?" He said the current Palestinian leadership will neither fight nor make peace. "This leadership wants neither a solution nor land; nothing interests it except its own personal battles." The Arab governments "are faced by a president who claims to be elected, and a prime minister whom he appointed but wouldn't give any powers." "It's time for the Palestinian leadership to realize that it must go, be it the leadership of Abu Amar [Arafat] or of Abu Mazen....There is no real leadership that bears responsibility and is ready to sacrifice its own interests and posts in order to accomplish the task for which it was elected....Is it with such a lame leadership that the Palestinians will free their land? Should we enter into conflict with the rest of the world for the sake of these individuals?"
2003-09-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive