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Arafat's popularity has plummeted since the end of the siege of Ramallah, in no small part because of the perception that he negotiated his own freedom at the expense of men like Saadat, even as the circumstances of ordinary Palestinians continue to deteriorate under Israeli blockade. Forcing him to overrule his own judiciary won't help with the home constituency, and yet holding Saadat in prison won't necessarily help Arafat achieve the resumption of political negotiations he desperately needs. That's because Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has made abundantly clear to U.S. emissaries this week that he has no intention of engaging in any kind of dialogue with the Palestinians as long as Arafat remains in charge.
Washington continues to push for an immediate resumption of political dialogue in tandem with efforts to stop terror attacks and to reform the PA. Sharon refuses deal with an Arafat-led PA, and Israeli officials have openly questioned the wisdom of Bush administration efforts to rebuild PA security structures as long as they're answerable to Arafat. Still, Arafat's not retiring anytime soon, and when he met with CIA director George Tenet on Tuesday to discuss PA reform the Palestinian leader emphasized that progress depends on Israeli forces withdrawing from PA territory something Israel has shown no inclination to do.
Although Arafat looks set to respond this week to calls from the PA legislature for the appointment of a new cabinet, it appears that the political coalition on which it will be based will be exactly the same as the current one. On the ground, ordinary Palestinians are less concerned with the composition of Arafat's cabinet than with the impact of Israel's continuing economic stranglehold and military operations. And on the Israeli side, too, the signs are that nobody's holding their breath for the outcome of the Bush administration's efforts. The ongoing deployment of Israeli troops in what were once off-limits Palestinian towns have become so routine that the Israeli military now refers to them as "patrols" rather than "incursions."
Absent some form of shock therapy, the administration's efforts to start a regional political dialogue at a summit that was to have been held in June but has now been postponed may simply drift into oblivion. The Israelis insist they won't talk to Arafat, and it remains abundantly clear that no Palestinian will step forward to negotiate with Israel. Much now depends on what transpires over the next week when Bush meets first with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, and then with Sharon. Bush is unlikely to hear much that will please him. The question is, what will he say?