Jeroen wrote: >I know it is popular among the rabid pro-Israel crowd to equate >"Palestinian" with "terrorist", but unlike what those people think, the >international community is *not* calling for negotiations with terrorists; >they are calling for negotiations with what they see as the legitimate >Palestinians leadership. > I don't think we should forget that the only reason Arafat has any sort of leadership role in the current Palestine is that he was the leader of the predominant terrorist organisation when the current Palestine Authority was formed. It's not like he was some sort of Ghandi or arose out of the new order. It was a very short road from PLO to PA. I'm not saying that disqualifies him, Nelson Mandela and Jose Gusmao were both guerilla warfare leaders who have gone on to lead their countries (well, Gusmao is expected to do so) with no trace of their violent past, but Arafat was supposed to have credibility with Hamas and all the PLO splinter groups. If he doesn't, there's no point in negotiating with him. Either he can stop the violence, and won't (so we shouldn't deal with him) or he can't stop the violence (so we shouldn't deal with him).
Cheers Russell Chapman
