The Palestinian radicals want Israel destroyed, and every last Jew dead or gone. This is the starting point of any discussion on this.

To believe that Arafat represents any moderation in this is an illusion. Arafat had his shot at peace during the Clinton negotiations, and threw it away with both hands. The Israeli government of the time, about as liberal as you can get for Israel, offered Arafat everything but the kitchen sink, and he rejected it.

From a Newsweek article, quoted in Haaretz magazine (the Newsweek article is unavailable on the Web):

The latest issue of Newsweek reports that former U.S. president Bill Clinton is blaming Yasser Arafat for the collapse of the Middle East Peace process. According to Newsweek, at a cocktail party last week at the home of former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Clinton said that Arafat had called him three days before the former left office.



"You are a great man," Arafat said, according to the magazine.

"The hell I am," Clinton reportedly responded. "I'm a colossal failure, and you made me one."

According to Newsweek, Clinton described Arafat as "an aging leader who relishes his own sense of victimhood and seems incapable of making a final peace deal."

Newsweek reports that Clinton had told Arafat that by turning down the best peace deal he was ever going to get (the one proffered by former prime minister Ehud Barak and brokered by Clinton last July), the Palestinian leader had only guaranteed the election of Ariel Sharon.

Clinton has refused most interview requests since he left office January 20; but at the party, he captivated guests for nearly an hour with an insider's tale of the Camp David talks.

Newsweek says that Clinton said that he had never expected to close the deal at Camp David.

"Describing Arafat as an aging leader," the magazine wrote, "Clinton said, 'He could only get to step five, and he needed to get to step 10.'"

But according to the magazine, Clinton expressed hope "in the younger generation of Palestinian officials" and that a post-Arafat Palestinian leader might be able to make peace.

"I'm just sorry I blew this Middle East thing," Clinton said shortly before laving the party. "But I don't know what else I could have done."

According to the weekly, Clinton revealed that on Jerusalem, "the two sides were down to bickering over final language on who would get sovereignty over which part of the Western Wall. But Arafat continued to demand that large numbers of Palestinian refugees, mainly from the 1967 and 1948 wars, be allowed to return - numbers that Clinton said both of them knew were unacceptable to the Israelis."

And, said the magazine, Clinton told the party guests that when Arafat "expressed doubts" that the ancient Jewish temple actually lay beneath the Al Aqsa Mosque, Clinton bluntly contradicted him. "I know it's there," Clinton told the guests that he told Arafat



Then there's Hillary's take on it, quoted in this article:

...During an interview Saturday on WCBS-AM radio, [Hillary] Clinton praised Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's efforts during the recent Middle East summit and criticized Arafat. The 14-day summit ended last week with conflicting claims over Jerusalem remaining a stumbling block to an agreement.



"It's clear that Prime Minister Barak came committed to reaching a deal that would guarantee peace and security for Israel and the entire region. And I'm sorry that Chairman Arafat didn't show the same commitment," the first lady said.

"It's time that Chairman Arafat step forward and conclusively demonstrate his willingness to forge a real lasting peace agreement," she said.



Whether Arafat is a radical who believes Israel must be destroyed, or whether he believes that if he made peace with Israel, his own people would kill him (likely), the result is the same.