Arafat Death A Threat To Peace ?

Now that Arafat's death seems to be iminent, the question arises "will peace be possible with the change in leadership of the palestinians?" . Most famliar with the current situation in the region are aware that there already was a change in the region prior to Arafat's health problems. The outlook does not appear to be one of impending peace , but rather of impending doom.

There are many reasons for the fear of escalation of violence in this already turbulent corner of the globe. The first reason is of course the is what appears to this writer as the refusal of the Isrealis to stop building where they already had promised not to develop. They seem to just ignore that they made a promise and have found it in there interests to simply say we never said we would stop developing the areas where Isrealis are already living but rather we won't open any new developments. How convenient !

If this region is to ever see peace, the Isrealis will first have to keep thier word when they give it. When they start doing that then the Palestinians will begin to trust, which by the way is an important ingredient in process of finding common ground and ultimately a lasting peace.