Current Bulletin Issue - Volume 18, Bulletin 1, March 2005

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POOR PLAYERS

There is a crisis of confidence on both the Palestinian and the Israeli side: Not surprisingly, Abu Mazen and Abu Ala have been revealed as faithful followers of the doctrines of Abu Ammar. The only difference is that Arafat could impose his will on the Palestinian Authority and the Islamist dissidents in every respect, including the condoning of his massive embezzlement of PLO funds for his private coffers. Mahmoud Abbas and Achmed Quriea will find it more difficult to do so and have a much more serious problem with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, which the forthcoming elections may well exacerbate. Yet this is not the reason why they have not retreated from the so-called “Palestinian constants” – the Arab refugees’ “right of return” to Israel and an Israeli retreat to the pre-1967 borders. They simply have lived and breathe the same ideology as Yasser Arafat and will cheat Israel with promises they will not fulfill just as he did.

Israel’s diplomatic position has already been weakened by the enthusiastic welcome and funds extended by the West to these two extremists, who are being hailed everywhere as “moderates.” However, it is weakened no less by the shortsighted arrogance of Ariel Sharon. After being elected by a landslide on the platform of rejecting the program of his Labor Party opponents, he proceeded to adopt most of it, in defiance of his own party’s opinions and votes. He managed to get his “disengagement” from the Gaza strip and Northern Samaria through the Knesset – with the help of Labor, Yahad and some Arabs. He then got the budget passed too, after allocating United Torah Judaism 290 million shekels and pacifying Shinui by giving it 700 million shekels (the “disengagement” will cost well over 3 billion shekels) and finally, blinded by all this, he tried to reward the Likud minority supporting him by appointing three unnecessary ministers and several deputy-ministers. This time he failed. The Knesset rejected the proposed ministers. Deputy ministers do not require its approval.

What Sharon finally gets from George W. Bush may decide his political fate. But whatever he gets, Israel’s prospects at this moment seem no better than the Palestinian Authority’s.