<
--------------
STRATFOR.com
--------------
THE INTERNET SOURCE FOR GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE
If it’s in the news, it’s too late...
Israelis, Islamists Both Gunning for Arafat
December 6, 2001
Summary
Israel is focusing diplomatic and military pressure on Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat following weekend suicide bombings that killed 25 Israelis. The government is trying to marginalize Arafat, a goal ironically shared by extremist groups. Both sides prefer open warfare to a negotiated solution and are attempting to sideline or eliminate the Palestinian Authority.
Photo Credit: Gregory Heisler -- TIME Magazine.
Photo Source: TIME.com, People Who Mattered.
Analysis
In the wake of last weekend's suicide bombings, which killed 25 people, Israeli aircraft and helicopters attacked Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip and West Bank Dec. 3 while security forces continued to enforce a tight closure of the occupied territories and blockades around West Bank cities. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon also declared a "war on terrorism" and said he holds Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat responsible for recent and future attacks on Israelis.
The Sharon government considers Arafat a greater threat than Islamic extremist groups such as Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Israel's strategy will be to maintain military pressure on the West Bank and Gaza, but this will lead to more attacks by extremist groups. It will also reduce Arafat's relevancy to the conflict, weakening his legitimacy at home and abroad. In the end Sharon would rather fight a war with extremists than lose Israeli territory to negotiations with Arafat.
Sharon's goals -- destroying Arafat's power base -- are ironically quite similar to those of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. By keeping the conflict hot, both Israeli and Palestinian hard-liners are removing any possibility of a negotiated settlement, which Arafat has advocated for a decade. Both sides think they can eventually control all of Israel, but they first need to remove the Palestinian Authority.
+++++++ NOTICE +++++++
This is an abbreviated version of a full-length STRATFOR report previously seen by our Members. To access STRATFOR's complete range of in-depth, objective intelligence and analysis on the globe, including our award-winning daily full text and graphics reports, click here and become a Member today!
+++++++ NOTICE +++++++
(Story Source)
(c) 2001 Stratfor, Inc.
Related Stories:
* Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin
TIME.com
* ARAFAT, Yasser: Mohammed Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Raouf Arafat
Dan
Israelis, Islamists Both Gunning for Arafat . . .