RAMALLAH - Just one moment in that jostling crowd under undisciplined Palestinian security forces at the funeral of Yasser Arafat was enough to pick up on huge problems for resumption of a peace process in the Middle East. The faithful of Arafat's Fatah movement were...
Just What Mr. Palestine Ruled Over
RAMALLAH - For almost four decades, Yasser Arafat was Mr. Palestine to many in this fractured homeland. Yasser Arafat represented the Palestinian people, wherever they are, as the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which was accepted by the Arab...
Reporting Arafat Becomes Another Crisis
RAMALLAH - The remarks by Yasser Arafat's wife Suha must have rattled the Palestinian leadership and some in the media back in Ramallah. She said some temporary leaders are conspiring to bury her husband alive. She added that he was fine and would return. The fear of...
Palestinians Struggle to Find Leadership
RAMALLAH - The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is struggling to organize itself in the absence of veteran leader Yasser Arafat. His duties have been divided between Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas. But the old leader may throw a...
There Is Life After Arafat
RAMALLAH - Ramallah moves to the slow and heavy rhythm of any Muslim town in the Middle East during the fasting month of Ramadan. The only sign of anything amiss with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is the permanent vigil that the world press holds outside his ruined...
More of the Same Is Bad News in Middle East
JERUSALEM - Most reactions in the Middle East to the reelection of U.S. President George W. Bush have ranged from the caustic to the cautious. Rejoicing has been rare. Only Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Iraq's U.S. appointed interim prime minister Iyad...
‘What After Arafat?’
JERUSALEM - A historic vote in Israel's parliament to withdraw from Gaza has been overshadowed by serious concern over the health of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. Just days after the Israeli press unanimously described the highly contested vote in parliament...
Child Abuse ‘Rises with Intifada’
JERUSALEM - Child abuse in Israel has gone up five-fold compared to the time before the Intifada, a new report says. Israeli society is paying a heavy price for the flare-up in the conflict with the Palestinians over the last four years, it emerged from the annual...
Disengagement Turns Israeli Politics Upside Down
JERUSALEM - Israel has been gripped by disengagement fever since the opening of the winter session of Parliament, the Knesset, last week. In a few days lawmakers will have to vote on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to withdraw the army from the Gaza Strip and...
Gaza Offensive Deepening Hatred
NORTHERN GAZA STRIP - The rapidly mounting civilian death toll as a result of Israel's massive offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip is deepening hatred and may lead to continuing cycles of bloodshed, Palestinian politicians and human rights activists in Gaza say....


