Israel decides to expel Arafat

[Lincoln]

Arafat to be expelled

Well what do you all think of this turn of events?

[Dinner]

Copy-cat thread alert.

[chequita guevara]

I think Israel has ****ed up.

[David Floyd]

Hopefully, the Palestinians will resist Israel's usual heavy-handedness. Not with terror attacks against civilians, but resistance against legitimate targets, most particularly the IDF.

[Edan]

The Israeli cabinet has agreed in principle to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from the region.

He's not being exiled (yet). He's being sent a message that he's no longer protected. Maybe he'll get the message and play nice, but I doubt he'd do so for long.

[GePap]

If they actually at some point decide to make this policy more than "a principle", then that is a brilliantly stupid thing to do: so all that happens is that he gets to have his face on TV daily again, now that where ever he gets t go on camera: oh, and since the pals do have knowledge of that incredble thing known as the telephone, he just gets to talk to everyone again: if anything, exiling him makes him more connected and able to inlfuence public opinion than where he is...

Yeah, sounds like the perfect way of making him irrelevant...

[Lincoln]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Ccat thread alert.

I didn't see another thread on this. If there is Ming is welcome to close this one.

[Kropotkin]

I suppose the reason behind it is to hinder his influence over the PA and particulary so his control over most of the security forces. Will probably just give him more attention and support though. "obstacle to peace" or not, he's still the elected leader of the palestinians and has been in this game for to long to not make the best out of the situation.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Lincoln


I didn't see another thread on this. If there is Ming is welcome to close this one.

It was mentioned mid-thread somewhere else. AFAIK, this is the only thread solely devoted to that news.

[Spiffor]

I think Israel and the US are blowing Arafat's role way out of proportion. Sure he doesn't do anything to stop the Hamas and the IJ. Sure, the whole support for his government comes from the hatred of the Israelis (and as such he and his team must maitain this hatred).

But I don't think this guy decides everything alone. Since Abu Mazen is out, I'd be hardly surprised if there weren't a new row of ambitious ministers or assistants who seek to get Arafat's place once he retires / dies. Arafat as a person is only significant because he has a team with him. Remove Arafat, and once the transition is done, you have much of th same.

The only way to get a cooperative PA government is to make sure the Palestinians will still support it if it cracks down on terrorists. This means allowing the PA to have a significant armed force, this means to subzidizes the PA so that the Pals can thank their government for a "good" standard of living. This means making concessions on the important issues like geographic continuity and access to water. The aim is that the average Palestinian sees his situation getting better, and thank his anti-Islamist government as the reason of it.

In the current state of affairs, the rejection of anti-Israeli hatred, and the active fighting against terorrist groups would be political suicide for any PA government, because it would be deemed a traitor by the population, and any anti-government coup or guerilla would be widely supported.

[Ned]

What struck me is that Israel has either shown some backbone and is willing to confront the US who supports Arafat, or the US has given Israel the green light to deal with the "obstruction."

Regardless, this decision is long overdue. Bravo!

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Ned
Regardless, this decision is long overdue. Bravo!

And if you put your hatred for Arafat aside, what will this decision bring ?

[Lincoln]

Originally posted by Spiffor

... what will this decision bring ?

What every decision in that conflict brings. More violence.

[Sandman]

It will do nothing to stop terrorism, and will give Arafat a legitimacy he does not deserve.

[GePap]

Israel says they want to make Arafat irrelevant, and yet they hold a cabinet level meeting that decides sending him into exile counts as vital policy: you know, that does not sound like someone who is irrelevant to me, so either the whole campaing by Israel and the US to make him irrelevant failed utterly, or it was idiotic to begin with. If they exile him, he gets more artime and still remains leader of the pals. If they kill him he becomes the martyr of martyrs, and remains relevant..yup, Israel really knows how to minimize arafat's role, yup, they sure do.