The Hindu : A Futile Exercise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 22, 2002

Opinion

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A Futile Exercise

EVEN AS THE U.S. administration, on Israel's instigation, appears close to achieving a "regime change" in the Palestinian Authority, the futility of the efforts to sideline Yasser Arafat has become all the more glaring. The U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and even more gratingly Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, have now said they can accept Mr. Arafat continuing as the symbolic President of the Palestinian Authority provided effective executive power is handed over to a Prime Minister. Mr. Arafat has indicated that he would be willing to appoint a Prime Minister as early as the beginning of next year provided the Palestinians are able to set up a state by then. Bargaining on the conditions and modalities by which a revamp of the Authority's upper echelons is to be achieved may continue for a while but Mr. Arafat's signal suggests that the arrival at such an outcome might only be a matter of time. What underlines the futility of the entire exercise is the fact that Mr. Arafat will continue to be, by far, the most influential personality in the Palestinian state and society and no Prime Minister appointed by him will be able to exercise power free from his supervision.

For all that, it is a major demand being made of the Palestinians (and a major concession under contemplation by them) that the man they voted into the presidency with an overwhelming mandate and in an election supervised by several groups of international observers should have his powers and functions re-defined under external pressure. Stray signs of the possible withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho cannot really be considered as quid pro quo for the political concession the Palestinians seem ready to make since the Israeli military incursions in these areas were not significant relative to their excesses in the rest of the West Bank. A major overhaul of the upper echelons of the Palestinian Authority as is being contemplated should be at least balanced with a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian-populated areas. This is necessary not only to meet the needs of reciprocity and equitable treatment. It is also a measure that has to be taken in order to mitigate the fundamental conditions that breed the emotional context in which suicide bombings and other forms of terror take place. The U.S. administration alone has bought the Israeli argument that the phenomenon of terror thrives in the Palestinian territories only because Mr. Arafat and his Authority nurture and encourage it. The rest of the international community recognises that Israel's re-occupation of the territories, its use of excessive force and the subjugation and humiliation of the Palestinians is the primary condition that sustains the emotional context that breeds suicide bombers. If one supposed cause for terrorism is to be addressed then surely the real cause should be addressed as well.

A phase which might well end with Mr. Arafat being shifted "upstairs" will not be the end of the story. Mr. Sharon has worked consistently on a programme of advancing propositions that are initially unacceptable to the international community and then waiting for time and circumstance to erode the resistance to it. Shifting Mr. Arafat to the presidency might well be the prelude to another phase where he is accused of "illegitimately" interfering in the affairs of the Authority — and it would be unnatural for Mr. Arafat not to wield his influence — and thereby to the re-advancement of the proposition that he should be expelled from the territories. Mr. Sharon will have every reason to be satisfied if the Palestinians are pushed into a perennial leadership crisis since the redressal of their genuine grievances can then be postponed that much longer. Such an outcome is surely not in the interests of the U.S. administration or the global community. It is certainly not in the interests of a lasting peace in West Asia.

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