Why is Arafat silent?

The Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic arena is abuzz with activity. Meetings, conferences, initiatives, even documents of mutual agreement. The most important meetings of all are those between MK Omri Sharon and attorney Dov Weisglass, the most trusted associates of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and Saeb Erekat and Jibril Rajoub, who are currently considered the closest public figures to Yasser Arafat. They are preparing for Sharon's meeting with the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala). There are other, less important, meetings of Knesset members from coalition and opposition factions with members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and high-ranking Palestinian Authority officials.

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When in recent days Arafat's staff was asked why they remained silent, allowing opponents of the Geneva Accord to take control of Palestinian public opinion, they answered that the signers of the accord on the Israeli side are private individuals, representatives of an opposition minority, and therefore official senior Palestinian Authority officials must not intervene.

This does not seem to be the whole truth. Arafat is afraid of expressing open and clear support for the document because if he does so, many in the Palestinian public would rise up against him. They would tell him that he was being hasty to concede the right of return, which is a holy asset of the Palestinians, and will ask him what he is getting in return - the completion of the separation fence and the strengthening of the settlements. In other words, you made an agreement with a few Israeli leftists and the Sharon government is ridiculing them and you.

For now, it does not seem that the flurry of diplomatic activity of the past few weeks is leading to any sort of results.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/366858.html

Just what I was talking about in another thread.

Chalk up disappointment in Rubinstein.

I thought it was an interesting article. :shrug: :hi:

If a meeting with Jibril Rajoub and GOI representatives is a "most important meeting", it therefore follows that Arafat sending Jibril to Geneva is also important.

Hence, Arafat cannot be "allowing opponents of the Geneva Accord to take control", as is stated in the excerpt you gave.

I suspect Rubinstein would retract this article knowing what was revealed later in the day (i.e. the sending of Jibril).

Methinks the pressures of the deadlines, not to mention the net, causes a lot of this!