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Principles like equality before the law for both Gazans and West Bankers have been widely violated by Arafat's regime. Two of the three men involved in the alleged roadside sex attack walked out of jail after just a couple of days. They have yet to be tried. Arafat is aware of the tension--he's hardly been to the West Bank during the intifadeh--but he has shown little inclination to combat the problem.
If there is a positive side to the abuses, it is that they are emboldening the reformers against Arafat's men. Says Khader, the West Bank politico: "They're afraid of democracy. We've succeeded in developing the concept of democracy on the street." So far, at least, Arafat has been able to keep the popular will jammed into place by the pressures of the intifadeh and by his unchallenged leadership. But as they look around, Palestinians see a society that is more fractured than ever before and further away from the goal of a free state than at any other time since the Oslo peace process began. Arafat cannot ignore those troubling facts. Now--particularly if his fresh cease-fire holds--he must face the difficult problem of leading his people beyond them.
--With reporting by Jamil Hamad/Nablus and Aharon Klein/Jerusalem