Why Arafat's in No Hurry

Monday, Mar. 25, 2002
Against the backdrop of yet another Palestinian suicide bombing (this time, a failed attempt outside Jerusalem), U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni continues work to bridge the gap between Israeli and Palestinian versions of a cease-fire plan. It doesn't appear to be getting any narrower. The Palestinians are in no hurry to close a deal — they even called off a new round of truce talks scheduled for Monday night. Yasser Arafat and his aides appear to believe that the U.S. and Ariel Sharon currently need a cease-fire a lot more than he does, and he's going to set a substantial political price on that truce. Palestinian leaders believe the current cease-fire effort has been spurred by two related factors: the political crisis in Israel caused by the recent upsurge of violence, and the fact that this violence may be the biggest obstacle to the Bush administration winning Arab support against Saddam Hussein. And their perceived advantage may be underscored by the Bush administration's pressure on Sharon to allow Arafat to travel to the Arab League summit in Beirut. Today Palestinian leaders said Arafat would not attend.