Palestinians debate their goal: compromise or victory
Arafat and Abbas feuded this week over how much ground to yield to Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, found his toughest battles this week weren't with Israelis, but with fellow Palestinians.
Tuesday, Mr. Abbas came under heavy fire from members of his Fatah party who mocked and denigrated his performance to date. On Wednesday, Fatah officials proposed curbing the power of Abbas's security minister, Mohammed Dahlan.
"People are clarifying where they stand, with the old school or the new school," says Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs in Jerusalem. "This is the chapter where people begin to change their seats. It's a dangerous time."
Mr. Abdul-Hadi, who describes the events of this week as an "open storm," describes the Palestinian political culture clash as one between incremental success and total victory. New polls suggest that the Palestinian public could throw its weight behind either camp, depending on events in the coming weeks and months.
The internal upheaval disrupted peace talks with the Israelis and comes at a dangerously delicate stage in the nascent peace process with Israel. It reflects tension between Abbas and PA President Yasser Arafat and the two cultures they represent - the relatively new ethos of negotiation clashing with the historical embrace of revolution.
The outcome of this struggle will have profound implications, shaping Palestinian prospects for statehood and the nature of the Palestinian relationship with Israel and the US.
This week the US announced that for the first time that it would directly aid the PA with a $20 million payment, in a significant gesture of support for Abbas.
The Palestinian prime minister, a slightly stooped, gray-faced man who hides behind large glasses, was appointed at US and Israeli urging over Mr. Arafat's resistance. Abbas has never sought office and remains, at heart, a technocrat who thinks in terms of possible success.
"Dialogue, negotiations, delivering as much as he can, making small successes - filling the glass with as much water as possible," says Abdul-Hadi, describing Abbas's style as emerging from the Oslo peace process of the early 1990s.
At best, it's a work ethic that makes for slow and steady progress that may never have the bravura moments preferred by Arafat, whose public persona comes across as color to Abbas's black and white.
"Charisma, ego, ambition, national pride - 'revolution until victory,' " says Abdul-Hadi, quoting an old Fatah slogan to describe Arafat, who often speaks in terms of revolutionary triumphs.
Arafat, who heads Fatah, is widely considered to have orchestrated Abbas' clash Tuesday with members of the party's Central Committee. Abbas resigned from the group later but said he would remain as prime minister.
Fatah members complain that Abbas is yielding too much to Israel and not getting enough in return. They complain about the symbolism of his meetings with Israelis in Jerusalem, which they say validate Israeli claims to the entire city.
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