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After 3 Years, Some Palestinians Disillusioned with Intifada

(Knight Ridder/Jewish World Review) Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson - "We wasted three years for nothing," says Mahar Tarhir, 25, of Ramallah. "This uprising didn't accomplish anything." Anger and disillusionment have replaced the fighting spirit that had propelled the Palestinian movement. Many Palestinians blame Arafat and his PA for allowing the popular uprising to evolve into an unwinnable armed conflict between extremist groups and the IDF, grinding on from year to year as Israel steadily tightens its military grip on Gaza and the West Bank. "There's no vision, no strategy, no leadership," said Sari Nusseibeh, president of al Quds University. "The whole thing just went haywire." Critics say the PA's failure to establish achievable goals for the movement allowed it to fall into the hands of the militant Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whose dual ambitions of destroying Israel and the Palestinian secular government have defined the uprising ever since. Arafat's Fatah political party countered the militants by introducing an armed faction of its own, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, only adding to the death and destruction.
2003-10-02 00:00:00
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