Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Intifada:
I sure hope [1]this Jerusalem Post report is correct:
It's not so much what Zakariya Zubeidi, the fugitive leader of the
West Bank Aksa Martyrs Brigades, says, but how he says it. Zubeidi
speaks in the vacant tones of a ghost.
And four years after he first picked up a rifle, this
peace-activist-turned-local-hero-and-killer eulogized the
Palestinian intifada in words similar to those in which he
described himself.
"The intifada is in its death throes. These are the final stages --
this I can confirm," he said on Wednesday. . . .
The intifada has vented its suicidal wrath on Israelis, but in
recent weeks criticism of the Palestinian Authority has ensconced
itself in common parlance. "Not only was the intifada a failure,
but we are a total failure. We achieved nothing in 50 years of
struggle; we've achieved only our survival."
And as terrorist warfare slows to a gasping halt, Zubeidi sees the
violence turning inward. Last week, Zubeidi decided to vent his
frustration by torching the offices of his "friend," Kadura Musa,
Jenin's governor and its Fatah leader. Zubeidi claimed he sought to
highlight the reforms necessary for his society; his critics said
he was pining for attention.
One of the Palestinian's few self-critical leaders, Zubeidi
explained: "My position is neither legal nor legitimate. But an
independent judiciary would be able to stop the corruption and
enact the reforms we need to save this society." . . .
[T]he infamous Aksa Martyrs Brigades are hardly brigades anymore.
With 160 of his men in prison, and another 25 killed in battles
with the IDF, Zubeidi's newer recruits are often teenagers, some of
whom attend school during the day and take potshots at the nearby
settlements of Ganim and Kadim at night. . . .
References
1.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1091675654875
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