December 22, 2001

YASSER ARAFAT JOINS BATTLE WITH HIS ALLIES

Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority is finally saying some of the right things about Mideast violence. In a speech Sunday he called suicide bombings in Israel and the West Bank ``terrorist activity,'' apparently for the first time.

Whether this is a matter of conviction or mere expediency is hard to say. In another speech later in the week, delivered to a Palestinian audience in Ramallah, he praised in glowing terms the Palestinian martyrs in paradise and spoke of ``a conspiracy to Judaize Jerusalem.'' It wouldn't be a stretch for excitable members of that audience to hear his words as justification for further violence. The Middle East Media Research Institute has a translation of the Ramallah speech on its Web site, memri.org.

And even if his sentiments endorsing an end to violence are entirely sincere, there remains the question of whether he has the power to enforce his newly adopted policy.

When I visited Israel with a group of American journalists in October, before the recent worsening of violence, we had an interview with Arafat. On the bus to Gaza, because we weren't sure how long the interview would be, we planned our questions to make best use of the time. We'd heard from some Israelis that Arafat could stop the violence of the intifada but didn't want to, while others believed that he did want to, but couldn't. I was supposed to ask which of those views was correct.

But I was only halfway through the question when he interrupted, in perfectly serviceable English, to ask me whether the United States could guarantee to ``stop violence'' in this country.

I was nonplussed, because I was expecting the rhythm of an interview-in-translation, and couldn't think of anything to say except ``No.''

Arafat's question, though, evades the point. No country can totally eradicate crime and violence, that's true, but every government has a choice about whether it sincerely tries to, or -- as the Palestine Authority has done for years -- creates a climate where it is tolerated or even encouraged.

In his Ramallah speech, Arafat said, ``One of our cubs or one of our flowers will wave the flag of Palestine, Allah willing, over the walls of Jerusalesm, its churches and its mosques, whether someone likes it or not, and whoever does not like it can drink the water of the Dead Sea.''

Earlier, in an interview with a newspaper in Kuwait, he asked ``Do you know what a mother of a martyr does when she is informed of the martyrdom of her son? She goes out to the street with cheers of joy saying `Allah be praised, my son, that you married Palestine rather than your cousin.' This is the Palestinian people.''

In the past week, Palestinian security forces trying to carry out Arafat's orders have fought with members of the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Five people were killed in an hour-long gun battle in Gaza. Also on Friday, Hamas announced a partial end to its campaign of suicide bombings, though in language no more temperate than usual.

``Despite our full knowledge of the Zionist enemy's intentions to liquidate the will of our people and humiliate us through aggression,'' it said, ``we announce the halting of martyrdom operations inside the occupied lands of 1948 and the halting of the firing of mortar shells until further notice.''

That is, for now no more suicide bombings inside Israel as it was in 1948; it promises nothing about East Jerusalem, annexed in 1980, or about the West Bank and Gaza. And Islamic Jihad said from Lebanon that it would not end its attack.

Did Hamas make the announcement, as it claimed, ``for the sake of the unity of our Palestinian people''? Or was it acting under duress as Arafat tightened the screws, and merely casting its actions in the light it thinks most favorable? Reports say only that there were protracted ``negotiations'' between Hamas leaders and Palestinian Authority officials.

Israel is understandably skeptical. ``Hamas is doing what Arafat wants from them. He (Arafat) wants several days of quiet so that public opinion will be on his and the Palestinian Authority's side,'' Gideon Meir, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, told the Associated Press.

I still don't know the answer to the question I tried to ask Arafat. We know he set the second intifada in motion. We are only beginning to find out what happens when he tries to end it.

(743 words)