Arafat is dead and both Israelis and Palestinians are waiting to see what will happen next. They need to be looking to the future and not the past. Looking back and assigning blame for the current problems is an issue that will never be resolved and cannot possibly help in solving these problems. What should be obvious to both sides is that peace was not possible while Arafat was in power. That is not the same as saying that Arafat was a power-hungry autocrat whose popularity rested on his reputation as a freedom fighter, although there is a case to be made for that argument. Even if Arafat was truly a man of peace, deserving of his Nobel Peace Prize, Prime Minister Sharon and President Bush both made it clear that they would never be willing to negotiate with Arafat, making him an ineffective leader regardless of his own actions.
Yassir Arafat’s official position in the Palestinian government was President of the Palestinian Authority, and when he died, he left no successor, creating a power vacuum in Palestinian politics. Elections for the office of President have been scheduled for January 9th, and until then the position is being filled by Mahmoud Abbas, the former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and the newly elected Chairman of the PLO.
Now that Mr. Abbas is in a position of real power, there is an opportunity for change that needs to be seized not only by the Palestinians, but also by the Israelis and the American government. This places Abbas in a difficult position, because in order for him to win the election in January he must show that he is a strong leader with Palestinian interests at heart while at the same time showing the Israelis and Americans that he is not another Arafat and is willing to institute reforms within the Palestinian Authority. It is also a difficult situation for the Israelis because they need to deal with Abbas enough to show Palestinians that he has the ability to create a Palestinian state but not so much that he appears to be an Israeli puppet.
Both sides have acted admirably in taking the first steps in those directions. Abbas has issued an order that Palestinian public television stations can no longer show programs deemed to provoke anger or action against Israel and Israelis and Sharon has backed off slightly from his refusal to discuss his disengagement plan in the Gaza strip with the Palestinian leadership. These are promising steps, but they are only the first steps, and both sides will need to continue to make concessions if a real peace is ever to be achieved. We need to applaud both sides for their actions thus far, but more importantly, we need to encourage them to continue on this path now; because the window of opportunity that has suddenly been opened can close just as quickly, plunging the region back into senseless bloodshed.
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