"The reason for this is that many people diverted the uprising from its natural path and embarked on a path we can't handle, with the use of weapons ... such as mortars, grenades and shooting from houses and populated areas."

Note: No mention of suicide bombings or shooting children in their beds.

I guess the true measure of the sincerity of this guy's comments will be whether he gets branded a collaborator and is killed ([Link: www.jpost.com...] , [Link: www.news.com.au...] , [Link: www.cnn.com...] , [Link: www.glennbeck.com...] , etc).

Of course, he's probably got enough power to avoid that...

It is still the same old crap about how the suicide bombing and cold blooded murder is just hurting their cause. He could care less about the Jews that have been killed. He just sees the armed struggle as hurting the pali agenda.

In any case, this is still just his opinion and will not change a thing. Hamas, IslamoJeehad, Al-Suqsa et al. haven't lost that killing feeling.

Arafat, on top of everything else, has turned into the Grinch who stole Christmas

"...The incident occurred shortly after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat expressed his outrage at Israel’s military operations and canceled Christmas celebrations in the southern West Bank city. "There won’t be any Christmas," he told reporters in Ramallah, describing Israel’s recent closure of Bethlehem as an "international crime".

[Link: www.arabnews.com...]

the Intefada was a big mistake, because they underestimated, Rice, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush.....

and the congress of the United STATES.....

and they really underestimated Sharon...

#5 and most importantly the will and courage of the Israeli people, from its soldiers to its children.

"What happened in these two years, as we see it now, is a complete destruction of everything we built," Abbas was quoted as saying. "The reason for this is that many people diverted the uprising from its natural path and embarked on a path we can't handle, with the use of weapons ... such as mortars, grenades and shooting from houses and populated areas."

So what do you think war brings to the loser? Death and destruction follow the losing side in any war. The question now is how much longer will the palestines continue to fight? Until they are just a footnote in history books? The answer is up to them.

"Stupidfada" is an insult to idiots who sometimes are born that way and can't help it.

Evilfada is better and more precise.

Don't forget to view the Ramadan Moon. Ramadan ends next week.

Hezbollah's "success" in getting Israel to leave Lebanon unilaterally encouraged Arafat to think that he could do the same thing in the West Bank and Gaza. He thought that the combination of the Israeli public's anguish over mounting numbers of Israelis coming home from school or work in body bags and the Israeli peace movement (which was more more of a political force before the first and, especially, the second stupidfadas) would force the Israeli government to give in to his demands.

Big mistake; Lebanon was perceived as a "foreign intervention" and quagmire a la Viet Nam that wasn't worth the deaths of Israeli soldiers, but Israelis took what was going on on their very doorstep and inside their own territory much more seriously. The feeling of being embattled inside Israel firmed up Israelis' resolve.

All Arafat succeeded in doing was to get Sharon elected in a landslide. And the replacement of an eight-year Democratic presidency with a Republican one much more ideologically aligned with the Likud put the last nail in Arafat's coffin.

And Sharon has been smart enough to act with admirable restraint. Everyone expected him to start carpet-bombing, and when he didn't, the Palestinians' terror strategy looked worse and worse.

Believe me, the Israelis are tough mothers, and they are determined to get through this one way or the other.

A mistake - let's see...over 1600 dead, no jobs, no money, no pleasure, perpetual curfews, military occupation, lots of homes blown to smithereens, 40 armless children, even more people against your "statehood" ....a true islamic paradise...yes, I'd say that qualifies as a mistake, Sherlock.

By the way, did anyone see that story on Haaretz today - when meeting someone from Labor, one of the Pali brain trust complained that Israel's killing and arrest of West Bank militants was actually causing more voilence and lessend the chance for "peace."

I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind that one -silly me and my Western way of thinking, I thought that if I kill or lock up those who are gong to try to kill me, I stand a better chance of surviving annother day.

Fatwa warning.

Arafat Deputy: Stupidfada Was a Mistake

Maybe, just maybe, 'cause he knows about this

PM rejects Jordan's request to rule out `transfer' in Iraq war

[Link: www.haaretzdaily.com...]

There just might be something going on here . . . it turns out TRANSFER has been a subject of discussion at the highest levels, and the Jordanians (hashemite usurpers of east palestine) are actually worried.

Good.

I've heard it all before.

Michael, there is no discussion of transfer ( other than Arabs and their EU patrons talking about transferring Jews out of the territories). Sharon is just being a bit cagey, leaving a trickle of doubt for those who are prone to believe such things :).
Now, onto Mr Abbas. Charles is exactly right, this is just a little game Arafat plays with the West. Abbas, Sari Nusseibeh and others are just used as a branch for EU/State Dept weasels to hang onto. "Look, the Palestinians want peace" goes the argument and here is the evidence. Neither of these guys has any ability to control Hamas, PIJ, DFLP and the rest- only Arafat does. My rule with the leaders of the "Palestinians" is look at what they do, not what they say.

It's not a good cop- bad cop routine. There's a real split in the PLO leadership. Mahmoud Abbas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen) has been trying to shut down the Intifada for over a year. He leads the moderate "in house" opposition to Arafat's hard line, and in some circles is considered as the likeliest successor to Arafat if Pres. Bush implements his Palestinian Authority reform plan. People in Israel view him as a moderate and a prgmatist, the kind of Palestinian we can deal with. Everyone in an Israeli leadership position keeps his mouth shut about Abu Mazen out of a fear of "burning" him. He's spent most of the last year laying low outside of Palestinian territories, worrying - probably with good reason - about getting whacked by his fellow Palestinians, particularly the al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades who see themselves as the legitimate successor to Arafat.

The thing that I don't understand is why, when there are some Palestinians around who at least mouth anti-intifada rhetoric, Powell keeps meeting with the blood libel crowd who claim that Israel is conducting a war of extermination and starvation on the Palestinian people.

Uzi: I don't doubt that Abbas is sincere, that is not the issue. As Hitler said, "how many divisions does he have?". Arafat pushes these moderates into the public dialogue as a way of keeping the EU money and UN approvals coming. The good cop need not be in on the good cop/ bad cop routine as long as the bad cop is the one with the power.

I might add that Arafat is also playing the other side of this routine with regards to Hamas. In this case, he plays the good guy when in fact there is more than enough evidence to convict OJ that the two are cooperating in terror attacks.