• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on hope for the Middle East The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on hope for the Middle East The death of Yasser Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority is the
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on hope for the Middle East
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on hope for the Middle East
The death of Yasser Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas as president of the Palestinian Authority is the most hopeful development in the Middle East in the past several years.
Mr. Abbas is different from Mr. Arafat in promising and important ways. Mr. Arafat, in his kaffiyeh and military fatigues, represented the Palestinians’ past suffering; Mr. Abbas, in his business suit and tie, stands for what could be their future.
Mr. Arafat never would clearly disown violence; Mr. Abbas had the courage to oppose violence against Israeli civilians on both moral and practical grounds. The strong mandate won by Mr. Abbas with 62 percent of the vote says that the Palestinian people want to move toward a promising future, instead of being held hostage by the past.
Events in Israel are simultaneously moving toward an Israeli-Palestinian accommodation. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s new coalition government took office on Monday after winning a close vote in Parliament.
Mr. Sharon won the confidence vote 58-56 with the help of the Labor Party. Shimon Peres, the Labor Party leader, will be Mr. Sharon’s second vice premier.
Mr. Sharon has lost substantial support in his own Likud Party because of his plan to remove all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. The parliament is expected to vote this month on a compensation plan for uprooted settlers, and the evacuation of Gaza is set to begin in July.
The biggest impediment to peace – as always – is radicals on both sides. Hamas said it would respect the result of the election but claimed it didn’t represent the wishes of a majority of Palestinians and did not give Mr. Abbas the authority to “negotiate essential questions of the Palestinian people.”
Meanwhile, thousands of settlers and supporters protested against Mr. Sharon outside parliament during the confidence vote.
If today’s hope is to translate into tangible results, Mr. Abbas and Mr. Sharon will have to continue to stand up to the radicals in order to reach the peace that a majority of Israelis and Palestinians want to achieve.
