Who's the No. 1 Palestinian Now?

As President Bush immerses himself in the Middle East, Abbas and Arafat are jostling for the title

Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat are two sulky guys. When Arafat wanted to bring his wife Suha to the White House for the signing of the 1993 peace agreement with Israel, Abbas, one of the main Palestinian negotiators, objected to the presence of the Palestinian first lady, widely regarded within Arafat's circle as an interloper. If she was going, Abbas said, he was not. In the event, Suha stayed home and Abbas attended the Rose Garden ceremony with President Bill Clinton, but on the plane to Washington, according to two top officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization (P.L.O.), Arafat fumed all...

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