Yasser Arafat is exhausted. His ineffectiveness in making peace is his own fault, because he cannot deliver. He can’t move in any direction because he fears assassination if he makes peace and insolvency if he doesn’t.
People everywhere place less and less trust and confidence in him. When bombers murder Israeli civilians, he condemns the act in English and praises the killers in Arabic. We have watched him stifle press freedom.
Now his own people want him to replace his entire cabinet, because so many ministers are grafters. Everyone should have had enough of him by now. The U.S. should be urging him to retire. Let him take his place in history now and turn the reins of government over to capable people who can bring parliamentary democracy– and peace–to the Palestinians.
