No matter the circumstance, Arafat just won't fade away

No matter the circumstance, Arafat just won't fade away
Love him or not, most Palestinians want him in charge

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service Sunday, October 5, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Ramallah, West Bank -- Rumors swept the Middle East early last week that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was dying. He had not appeared in public for two days, he was unable to keep down his food, and his private physician was summoned from Amman, Jordan, to examine him.


<SNIP>

Despite being declared irrelevant by Washington, having no power to stop the security barrier Israel is throwing up, facing a dire economic crisis and seeing the Palestinians' cause diminish in Arab attention due to the turmoil in Iraq, Arafat appears unassailable.


STILL THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE
A poll published last week by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) showed more than 73 percent of Palestinians saying they support Arafat, while 58 percent said there was no other leader "who is able to sign a peace treaty with the Israelis."

<SNIP>

A clue can be gleaned from the PCPO poll. It shows that more than 56 percent of Palestinians want the intifada to continue and nearly 55 percent specifically urge the continuation of suicide attacks, up from 45 percent in November 2002.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/10/05/MN304176.DTL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He has better ratings than bush and his policies are more widely accepted by his people than Bushes are. I guess that means Arafat is more successful than Bush.

is to encourage the Palestinians to give up on the intifada,
those are "interesting" numbers.