On Tue, 26 Mar 2002, J. van Baardwijk wrote: > Cannot. If he could control the terrorists, he would. If he could manage > that, he could eventually go down in history as the Palestinian leader who > managed to make peace with Israel. Agreed, part of the Palestinian > population would hate him for that, but they hate him already anyway. So, > since he has a lot to gain from an outbreak of peace, my bet is that he > *cannot* control the terrorists, rather than *will not* control them.
Assuming that's the case, then Israel is in a tough spot because even if Arafat's intentions are good, and even if he negotiates in good faith, then he is incapable of speaking for the Palestinian people. Actually, it seems to me that if Arafat cannot control Palestinian terrorism, then he cannot by definition negotiate with Israel in good faith for peace terms. Arafat cannot say, "If Israel meets my conditions I will stop the Palestinian attacks," because no matter what Israel does, he cannot stop the attacks. The best he could do would be to agree on a treaty and then offer that treaty to his people for their ratification. But wait: when is the last time Palestine had an election? Do they even have a credible institution by which such a ratification could take place? Is the Palestinian Authority's "legislative council" a body that actually has any authority within the Authority, much less with the population in general? Is it in anyway representative of the Palestinian people? (I really don't know & would appreciate comments by someone who does.) It seems to me that if Arafat cannot stop attacks, or make significant progress towards stopping attacks (100% cessation in the short term is unrealistic), then he cannot represent himself as a credible negotiator and at the same time negotiate in good faith. At best he can be a consultant regarding Palestinian desires, and little more. So, it may well be the case that there is literally no one in Palestine with whom Israel can meaningfully negotiate. It would suck if that's the case, but we can't ignore that possibility. The fact that it sucks wouldn't make it any less true. Marvin Long Austin, Texas
