Palestinian leadership: Envisioning a post-Arafat Palestine

Have you seen this man?

The news yesterday of Palestinian President/Chairman Yasser Arafat’s worsening illness, and his subsequent departure to Paris for medical treatment, seemed to surprise many Palestinians. After all, Arafat has survived various threats to his life (assassination attempts, plane crashes, and sieges) during his tenure as the Palestinian leader. Viewed simultaneously as a corrupt autocrat and national savior, the 75-year old Arafat, who turned over control to a three-member panel that includes the present and former prime ministers, is said to be “very very sick” and possibly suffering from leukemia. Like most Arab leaders, the Nobel Prize-winning Arafat found ways to enrich himself while in office (he appears on Forbes’ annual list of the wealthiest “Kings, Queens and Despots”). Unlike them, however, he did not have a son which he could anoint as his successor. (Perhaps the rules will be rewritten, as they were in Syria after the death of Hafez Assad, so that Arafat’s teenage daughter Zahwa can take over?) Regardless of Arafat’s response to his medical treatment, the sudden realization among Palestinian leaders that he is in fact a mortal human being will spark a battle for succession – though not the democratic kind that many observers would like to see. “When he is gone, we will have a civil war that will destroy us,” said Sausan Shahin, a law student at Abu Dis University. “Some people will not know how to behave, you will have everyone fighting for power.” The most popular candidate to succeed Arafat, Marwan Barghouti, is presently behind bars in Israel and is unlikely to be released anytime soon. While Arafat used diplomacy to help bring the Oslo Accords into being, since returning to Palestine ten years ago little movement has occurred towards full statehood, or even reforms urged by other Palestinian leaders. The prospect for movement in the peace process may change as younger (and more realistic) Palestinians begin to articulate creative ways out of the impasse that has been in place since 2000. “I think it would be better if he were replaced by another person,” said restauranteur Rami Dagharme of Jenin. “He is tired, and he was not very successful. With all due respect, if he can’t deliver he should step aside and let someone else do the job.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.