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A Golden Opportunity Squandered

(Washington Post) Jackson Diehl - Arafat's death last November created, it was commonly said, a golden opportunity for Palestinians to arrest their society's downward spiral into squalor and suicide bombing. It also set up a test for all those who believed that Arafat himself was the principal Palestinian problem. Six months ago, Arafat was abruptly replaced, via a fair democratic election, by Mahmoud Abbas, a civilized moderate with a long record of opposing violence and a clear commitment to negotiating a peaceful settlement with Israel. Yet what difference do we see in Palestinian behavior? An experts' study recently concluded that Palestinian security forces remain factionalized, underarmed and undertrained, and that they are more easily commanded by local warlords than their official leaders. Corrupt hacks populate Palestinian ministries and dominate the legislature and the ruling Fatah party. It all sounds, in short, very much like Arafat's Palestine.
2005-08-01 00:00:00
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