 Arab analysts doubt Sunday's election of a successor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will breathe new life into the peace process and question whether the new president will have much real leverage for change.
In a grim consensus, observers said the likely electoral victory of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Mahmud Abbas would do little to further widespread Western hopes for an elusive Middle East peace accord that arose after Arafat's death in November. Intellectuals here believe Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not truly committed to reviving the process, stalled for three years after the rejection of Arafat as a peace partner by Washington and Jerusalem.
| Translation: the evil Jooos won't vote to kill themselves. |
Mohammed Sid-Ahmed, a columnist for the Cairo weekly Al-Ahram, charged "Sharon does not want to negotiate, does not want a solution and does not want to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".
| He and his countrymen prefer to continue breathing. |
Arab leaders have been at pains to take an upbeat tone on the post-Arafat era, saying his absence could now galvanize efforts in Israel, as well as the United States and Europe, for a return to the negotiating table. And they have encouraged other Arab states and the Palestinians to seize the opportunity now presented, whatever obstacles inevitably appear on the path.
| So long as it doesn't cause problems in the other Arab states. Can't let this democracy thing go too far. |
But observers say wishing will not make it so, challenging the newfound hopes that Arafat's death in a Paris clinic dramatically boosted the chances of reviving the moribund peace process and creating a Palestinian state. In an editorial for Al-Wafd, commentator Sanaa Said said that Israel's strategy remained "to smother the Palestinian resistance, which the Israelis correctly call terrorism." She said she was stunned that Abbas "accepts all the proposals" put to him by the United States and Israel "as if his sole ambition were to become president when everything points to him winning".
| He gets to be the tallest dwarf in the circus. |
Journalist Mohammed Hassanein Haykal, a confidant of the late Egyptian President Gamal Abd al-Nasser, caused a stir on a much-watched talk show on Al-Jazeera television when he asserted that there would be "no agreement nor negotiations between Arabs and Israelis" in 2005. "Arabs and Israelis can meet around a table for lunch or dinner but not to negotiate. We have entered an era of unilateral Israeli measures," he said. "The Arabs can accept them or reject them but they will not be able to negotiate on them."
| Bright boy, he figured it out. |
Fuad Gad of the Arab Center for Strategic Studies warned that "what will be called a Palestinian state will not constitute a state" and forecast that the status quo between Israelis and Arabs would persist for at least another decade. "The United States is committed to keeping anyone from proposing a resolution" to the Palestinian conflict, Gad said.
| 'cause we love conflict, ya know. |
Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, an analyst with the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the United States and Britain foresaw little more than a "rump state" for the new Palestinian leadership.
| Too bad, they could have had a more viable state five years ago. |
He wondered whether the Palestinians did not have an interest in "delaying the resolution of the conflict until a moment that was more favorable for them". "Some Palestinians say they are used to living under Israeli occupation and are asking the Arabs to stop making a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict an urgent priority," he said. Meanwhile, the head of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, told Al-Ahram late last month that there was "not a glimmer of hope" for the creation of a true Palestinian state and dismissed growing optimism for a new chance at peace.
| "Where's the cold water?" |
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