Steven Den Beste analyzes the evolving situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His theme: Arafat is increasingly isolated and desperate, and time, for a change, is on the side of Israel. An excerpt:
The Palestinians have always been underdogs in their struggle against Israel. Their most important asset was steadfastness. The Palestinians have remained committed to the struggle for decades, and until now they had been able to cause the Israelis enough trouble so that the Israelis had to deal with them, whether diplomatically or militarily. The one thing Israel could not do was to ignore the Palestinians and get on with building the richest nation in the region which did not have oil wealth.Posted by dan at January 31, 2004 06:04 PMBut once the wall is in place, and Israeli forces have been withdrawn from Palestinian territories, Israel will largely be able to ignore the Palestinians; at least to the extent that the war will no longer occupy center stage in Israel politically and economically. The wall will deprive the Palestinians of the only real weapon they had in the war. And when violent civil war breaks out amongst the Palestinian factions, their situation will become immeasurably worse in every way.