Having missed the bar fight that included Mark, "The Great One", Levin, allow me to give you my take on the events of the day. Any progress towards Palestinian independence must, of needs be, lead to an abolition of the results of the Rabat Summit of 1974. Up to Rabat, King Hussein of Jordan was considered the legitimate ruler of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
The Palestinian cause had become wildly popular in the wake of the Arab defeat of October, 1973, and the cease-fire that followed it. The Saudis, no friends of the Hashemite Dynasty in Amman, engineered an agreement by which Hussein would declare that he had no interest in the West Bank and that the Arab League would declare that Yasir Arafat's PLO was the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
This was also payback for the ruthless suppression of the Palestinian uprising against the Hashemite Crown in September of 1970.
Hussein was humiliated, and intentionally so. And his son, Abdullah, remembers. Of that, I am sure. So we will have some help on this score from the young King.
Bush, Powell, and Rice have decided to declare Rabat null and void, without saying it in so many words. They have engineered an environment in which Arafat is persona non grata. This is not only a reflection of American and Israeli opinion, but is also represents the beliefs of many Arab leaders who have had their experiences of betrayal at the hands of Arafat and his minions.
Bush has set extremely high standards for the Palestinians to meet. For instance, he acknowledges Israel's right to defend itself and her people. He has stated that talks should not begin in an atmosphere of terror. This is the Israeli position.
I don't understand some of the wailings of the Bush bashers here, and I am even somewhat mystified as to the criticisms of our friend, "holdonnow". How and ever, I believe that Bush has helped himself and our position in the Middle East enormously.
For the real issue on the table was, is, and remains Mr. Congeniality in Baghdad. I see no signs of Bush backing off from that objective. Once Saddam is history, the anchor regime of the Rejectionist Front states is consigned to the memory of man. Things will then be executed on our terms, and on our timetable. And if one doesn't believe me, one hasn't been looking at what is going on in Damascus.
Damascus has been extremely cooperative of late. They bagged an Al Qaeda biggie as he was passing through Damascus and are holding him incommunicado. In addition, the Boy President in Damascus understands what is coming, at long last, and has decided to play ball with us. That is all to the good. As Bismarck pointed out, politics is the art of the possible.
Be Seeing You,
Chris