Changing views of Palestinians?
Akiva Eldar in Haaretz writes about Sari Nusseiba and Ziyad Abu Zayad being the first notable Palestinians who are prepared to consider a change of the Palestinian position on “the status of Jewish holy sites, specifically the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif), and the right of return of the refugees to the State of Israel”. This is all very well. But these are very marginal Palestinian voices. I often feel that Eldar is swept away by his wishful thinking and is not really in touch with what is actually happening in Palestinian society. This can be less than helpful for the Arab affairs expert of a respected newspaper like Haaretz, if he wants to give a realistic and balanced picture of what’s going on over there. Maybe he doesn’t. I shouldn’t be surprised. It quite fits in with Haaretz’s lack of understanding of Israeli society, as well.

Meanwhile, Isabel Kersher in the Jerusalem Report checks out the chances of Arafat being out of the picture anytime soon (not marvellous). This is a very informative article, about how unpopular Arafat’s getting among Palestinians (and why they still won’t be able to kick him out).

My favorite passage: “Many Palestinians also accuse Arafat of being out of touch with reality. One source reports that the PA head spent over two hours at a recent cabinet meeting discussing the India-Pakistan crisis, to the astonishment of his ministers, as if he were living in Scandinavia, and not in Ramallah with Israeli tanks surrounding his headquarters. Whether the details are true or not, the fact that Palestinians now talk to the press this way is telling in itself.”
I love it! Aren’t there any dementia-inducing drugs to hurry things along a bit?