jerusalem | When the Islamic Prophet Mohammed was dying in 632 C.E., one of his disciples, the future Caliph Omar, raised his sword to strike down anyone who dared to claim that the prophet had breathed his last breath.
According to Islamic tradition, Omar’s colleague Abu-Bakr rebuked him. “If anyone worships Mohammed, Mohammed is dead. If anyone worships God, God is alive, immortal,” Abu Bakr said.
If that was the case with Mohammed, many Palestinians argued this week, then it certainly is true of Yasser Arafat, who died after a long struggle during which his wife and Palestinian Authority leaders control led information on his condition.
Speaking Thrsday, Nov. 11, at the Paris hospital where Arafat was being treated, Nabil Sha’ath, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, said Arafat passed away during the night. At press time, Arafat’s body had been flown to Cairo for a memorial cermeony.
The story about Mohammed has made the rounds in Palestinian areas to justify the transfer of power in the Palestinian Authority even before Arafat was declared dead. The current and former Palestinian Authority prime ministers divvied up Arafat’s responsibilities when he left for France in late October.
The power shift generally was accepted, but one important Palestinian — deceased president’s wife, Suha — rejected it.
On Sunday, Nov. 7, Suha Arafat charged three veteran Palestinian leaders — Sha’ath, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, and Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the PLO’s executive committee and a former Palestinian Authority prime minister — of a conspiracy to “bury Abu Ammar while he was still alive.”
Abu Ammar was Arafat’s nom de guerre.
She made her dramatic statement in an emotional interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite television station, while the three leaders were en route to Paris to look into Arafat’s condition.
Suha Arafat, who had not visited the Palestinian areas or seen her husband since the intifada began more than four years ago, had closely controlled access to her husband in Paris. But the Palestinian leaders going to Paris stressed that as the national leader, Arafat belonged to the entire Palestinian people, not just to his wife.
In Israel, Suha Arafat’s unexpected broadside was seen as part of a behind-the-scenes battle for an estimated $900 million in Arafat’s bank accounts, much of it believed to be looted from public Palestinian Authority funds.
So far, the name of the game has been unity, with everyone from the old guard to the young guard and Fatah to Hamas saying: Let everyone appear united until the “day after,” until the present political mist clears.
Following Palestinian law, Rawhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, took Arafat’s place as Palestinian Authority president for 60 days, after which new elections would be held.
But Fattouh is little known among Palestinians and has no political base. Therefore it seems increasingly likely that, at least transitionally, the Palestinians will be led by a collective headed by Qureia and Abbas. Under this arrangement, Qureia would deal with the daily affairs of governing while Abbas handles diplomacy, Palestinian officials said.
From Israel’s point of view, that’s good news: Both the men have good records of dialogue with Israelis.
Then again, that may prove counterproductive as they work to establish credibility among Palestinians, since it can hurt a leader’s popularity to be considered too close to Israel.
In addition, Abbas and Qureia could yet find themselves challenged by other powerful and popular elements in the Palestinian Authority. Among them are former Gaza Strip security chief Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub, a West Bank security adviser to Arafat. Both are “insiders” who spent time in Israeli jails in the 1970s and 1980s and have acquired considerable experience negotiating with Israeli leaders over the past decade. Though they no longer are officially in charge of security organs, they remain politically powerful and may emerge as candidates for the Palestinian leadership.
Another important figure is Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim, the terrorist wing of Arafat’s Fatah faction. Barghouti’s popularity is believed to be second only to Arafat’s among the Palestinians.
But for now Barghouti’s role is limited: He is serving several life sentences in an Israeli jail for involvement in terrorism. He has been on record as supporting Abbas, but the longer he remains in jail the stronger his image becomes as a sort of Palestinian Nelson Mandela.
For the time being, though, it seems that Qureia and Abbas have emerged as consensus leaders. Qureia rushed to Gaza over the weekend for talks with the various Palestinian factions and terrorist groups. The sad truth from an Israeli point of view is that without the cooperation of Hamas, it’s unlikely that any Palestinian government can function with stability.
Under the present state of affairs, stability means implementing the following formula: Give Hamas a piece of the government cake in exchange for a commitment to temporarily hold back anti-Israeli violence.