PA official Abed Razik al-Yihye met yesterday in Washington with CIA head George Tenet, purportedly to discuss the alleged increase in malnutrition in the PA areas and the resultant offer of American humanitarian aid. It has also been reported, however, that the political ramifications of Arafat's exit from the arena were also raised at the meeting, including who - or what - will replace him. Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane asked National Union party head MK Benny Elon what, to the best of his knowledge, was on the agenda at that meeting.
"There are two approaches," Elon responded. "One is that Arafat must be replaced, while leaving the PA in place. According to this view, all that is needed is to pick a name of one of the gangsters that currently surround Arafat, install him as the new leader, and things will continue as before. The other approach is to dismantle the entire PA. There are some Americans who are of this opinion, but unfortunately not enough. This approach would leave us with Jordan as the only other option for the Arab residents of Yesha, and we would thus return to the old notion that there is room for only two states in the Greater Land of Israel [on both sides of the Jordan River] - Jordan and Israel. We could then start discussing - with Jordan - borders and other issues."
"However," continued MK Elon, "if the plan that takes the day is the one to which Prime Minister Sharon has given a green light - that of keeping the PA as is, leading to a Palestinian state - this will be very bad. I must say that though I have strong criticism of Sharon on this issue, as well as on his failure to deal with terrorism, I admire him for his strong adherence to his strategy of getting rid of Arafat. I am sure that he will not allow Ben-Eliezer's 'Gaza First' plan to go through, because it keeps Arafat in place..."
Elon noted that elections are only about a year away, "and we have to prepare for them. From my point of view, it doesn't matter whether it's Sharon or Netanyahu who will be the one not to withstand the heavy American pressures; what's important to me is to have a strong right-wing bloc in the Knesset to the right of whoever it is."