Sharon Gives Arafat a Hand

The USA thinks for the time being armistice is out of the question
As could be expected, military actions of the Israeli army against HAMAS and Islamic jihad terrorist have not brought about any meaningful changes in the conflict Certainly some extremist leaders have been liquidated. But it there anyone who claims that such military strikes will put an end to acts of terrorism? Yasser Arafat seems to be the only politician who has profited from a new wave of confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians

The other day an extraordinary session of the Palestinian Authority leadership took place in Gaza. Palestinians say the discrepancies between Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas concerning control over military structures of the authority have been "eliminated once and for all." Now all efforts of Palestinians are to be spent on "development of a new cease-fire agreement with Israel." What is more, the Authority leadership demanded that international mediators - Russia, the US, the European Union and the UN - must immediately involve themselves in the situation as "punitive actions of the Israeli army aggravate the Mideast situation even more."

Palestinians received a response to the appeal immediately. The reaction came not not the Israelis, but from Washington. According to White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, for the time being an armistice is out of the question as disarmament of terrorists is the main objective to be pursued now. She says this is the condition of peace establishment in the Middle East. After all, "Arafat has once again demonstrated that he is part of the problem and not the solution of the problem at all. The Palestinian security forces must be concentrated around Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas."  

Thus, Washington has made everyone understand that it will not deal with Arafat under any condition. No doubt the US supports the operations conducted by the Israeli army on the West Bank. This makes consideration of an armistice a complete non-starter.  

Meanwhile, it has become obvious that neither the US nor Israel can dismiss the Palestinian Authority leader at this point. No matter what obstruction Arafat has to face, it is perfectly clear that he still maintains control over his supporters and opponents in the Palestinian leadership. Thus, if any armistice can be discussed now this should be armistice in the framework of the Palestine government. If we take into consideration the fact that Washington won't change its postion concerning Arafat's role in the Palestine-Israeli conflict, it is highly likely that this "unity" will last long.