The PA, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad are discussing a proposal to restrict all terrorist attacks to Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Middle East expert Dr. Yuval Ochana told Arutz-7 today that we are now at the beginning of the twilight period of the current intifada period:
"The Palestinians realize that they have lost, that all their predictions that Israel would cave in have proven to be false. The struggle for the post-intifada framework is now beginning, and there are two opposing forces: On the one hand, there are those who came with Arafat from Tunisia such as Erekat, Abu Ala, and Abu Mazen, who simply want to survive. They want to maintain their image as moderates, i.e., maintaining contacts with the U.S. while at the same time keeping up a moderate level of terrorism. On the other hand, there are those such as Hanan Ashrawi, Dahlan, Rajoub, the Tanzim, and even Barghouti, who want to change the PA or even to dismantle it entirely. They feel that the new Cabinet appointed by Arafat is illegal, that the entire PA is corrupt and non-functional, and to throw out the whole corrupt leadership."
"What, Dahlan and the others didn't take part in the corruption themselves?" asked Emanuel Shilo. "Sure they did, " Ochana responded. "Everyone did - but not on the level of Abu Ala and his ilk, who made money from every single bag of cement that entered Gaza, and even on the school uniforms." Asked whether Hamas and the others would receive the green light from Damascus to restrict terrorism only to Yesha, Ochana said that the chances of this happening are quite slim.
The United States has formally announced that the weekend talks between Director George Tenet and PA minister Abdel Razek al-Yihye produced no "breakthrough." A CIA spokesman said that the talks were "beneficial," but that no progress had been made on the issue of reforms in the Palestinian Authority.
"The Palestinians realize that they have lost, that all their predictions that Israel would cave in have proven to be false. The struggle for the post-intifada framework is now beginning, and there are two opposing forces: On the one hand, there are those who came with Arafat from Tunisia such as Erekat, Abu Ala, and Abu Mazen, who simply want to survive. They want to maintain their image as moderates, i.e., maintaining contacts with the U.S. while at the same time keeping up a moderate level of terrorism. On the other hand, there are those such as Hanan Ashrawi, Dahlan, Rajoub, the Tanzim, and even Barghouti, who want to change the PA or even to dismantle it entirely. They feel that the new Cabinet appointed by Arafat is illegal, that the entire PA is corrupt and non-functional, and to throw out the whole corrupt leadership."
"What, Dahlan and the others didn't take part in the corruption themselves?" asked Emanuel Shilo. "Sure they did, " Ochana responded. "Everyone did - but not on the level of Abu Ala and his ilk, who made money from every single bag of cement that entered Gaza, and even on the school uniforms." Asked whether Hamas and the others would receive the green light from Damascus to restrict terrorism only to Yesha, Ochana said that the chances of this happening are quite slim.
The United States has formally announced that the weekend talks between Director George Tenet and PA minister Abdel Razek al-Yihye produced no "breakthrough." A CIA spokesman said that the talks were "beneficial," but that no progress had been made on the issue of reforms in the Palestinian Authority.