Can Arafat be an effective leader and lead the Palestinians to peace?
My first thought would be, well, who else? It’s almost impossible to think of anybody else because he’s been their leader for so long. My answer would be that I wouldn’t put anything past this guy because he’s done so much and he’s evolved so much-he’s such an amazing, amazing figure. I don’t think there’s anything inherent about him that will prevent peace. But of course, it’s the forces surrounding him and his constituencies. There are a lot of Palestinian elites who are much more anti-Israel right now than Arafat is. Would we be closer to peace in the Middle East if Rabin had not been assassinated? No. Barak is from the same party as Rabin was. Barak is within the Israeli political spectrum considered to be “dove-like” compared to many Israeli politicians. In fact when he won the election last year, people were dancing in the streets thinking this will bring peace because the previous prime minister, Netanyahu, was really no friend of the peace process. In fact, I would argue that h
