The Telegraph says that the heat underneath the 2 year old Palestinian intifada appears to have been turned down to an angry simmer. The almost-constant curfew is rarely challenged, the streets are empty save for children at play, no suicide bombers have attacked Israel for three weeks. An estimate of only 5% of the population is still involved in the “uprising.”
The blind rage against Israel has not gone away; it’s just temporarily muted by a growing frustration with Arafat’s leadership. People are questioning the value of being beaten or killed for a leadership “that would not take advantage [of it].”
Tawfiq al-Ghussein is a Western-educated Palestinian who hopes to take advantage of the growing anger and frustration towards Arafat by campaigning for the position of Palestinian Authority President in an upcoming election (to be possibly held in January.) He’s also the son of Arafat’s former treasurer, who was abducted and held by the PA for a year before recently escaping to London.
Unfortunately, while such a figure might have great potential in ending the intifada, he will first have to deal with the 70% majority of Palestinians who still believe that violence is the answer to the problem of Israel’s “aggression.” He may get elected simply because he’s an alternative to Arafat, but proceding to then negotiate with the enemy won’t make him many friends among the hardline core of his people.
Here’s hoping that he’ll first be successful in legitimately ousting Arafat, and that he’ll then settle for unpopularity in return for actually trying to make progress in the blind, angry stalemate otherwise known by turns as the Palestinians vs. Israel and Israel vs. the Palestinians.
I realise that I rely quite heavily on the old Telegraph for my news. Any other sources that see a different side of Mr. al-Ghussein?
