Two Mideast Enemies, A Shared Problem

May 14, 2002 -- Both Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat are under fire for their positions toward the crisis in the Middle East. But the criticism is coming from unexpected groups — those directly connected to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, respectively.

The negative reactions to Sharon and Arafat from people who should support them raises a crucial question. How will the internal political pressures on these two men impact any hope for peace in the region?

A look at the events of the past two days shows the topsy-turvey world Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian leader Arafat find themselves in.

Arafat Steps Out

After nearly six months of confinement at his headquarters in Ramallah, Arafat ventured out Monday in a Jordanian helicopter to see for himself the results of last month's fighting. It was supposed to be a trip to reassert his authority.

His first stop was Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, where for 39 days Palestinian gunmen held out against Israel's army. Inside, clerics and officials competed to show Arafat the damage. But outside the church, crowds were sparse.

Many Palestinians don't like the deal Arafat struck to end the siege at the church. The fact that 13 of the gunmen — men they say defended Palestinians — were sent into exile in foreign countries.

Increasingly, Palestinians are willing to criticize.

"[Arafat] has enemies among the Palestinian population," Adel al Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told Nightline. "The important thing is to support him as the legitimate head of the Palestinian authority and try to move this process forward."

At the Jenin refugee camp, thousands turned out to see Arafat — but the chants were not for him. The biggest hero here is the head of the militant Islamic Jihad group, who was killed by Israel in the battle that destroyed so much of this camp.

One man interviewed by ABCNEWS said in Arabic that Arafat's Palestinian officials abandoned the camp when the fighting started. Since then, residents say, the Palestinian authority has given them no help putting their lives back together.

Arafat's aides were clearly worried Monday. The helicopter carrying the Palestinian leader flew over Jenin but did not land in the camp because of security concerns. The concerns may have been valid. A gunfight between different Palestinian factions broke out and one man was shot in the leg.

"Arafat is facing difficulties with his people and his opposition in the Palestinian society because he couldn't deliver the peace and economic prosperity he promised with the peace process," said Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian analyst. "And now the new reality of violence between Israelis and Palestinians are giving the upper hand to sections in the Palestinian society which never believed in the peace process, such as Hamas."

Judging Israel’s Response to Bombing

It was a suicide bombing last week that put everyone here back on edge. The bombing near Tel Aviv killed 15 people and is believed to be the work of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group.

From Washington, where Sharon was visiting to gain the backing of President Bush, there was a vow of revenge.

"Israel will fight, Israel will triumph, and when victory prevails, Israel will make peace," Sharon said.

Immediately the Israeli army began calling up reserves and started sending tanks in the direction of Gaza. The expectation was that within days, Israel would be fighting phase 2 of "Operation Defensive Shield" in the alleyways of Gaza's refugee camps. But it has yet to happen.

"There was too much risk in it," said Ron Ben Yishay, an Israeli military analyst. "The Gazans were ready for the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] to come and [they] planted mines in the streets."

That's not the only reason, he says. There was political pressure, too.

"It would have ruined the understandings between President Bush and Ariel Sharon," Yishay said, referring to the reforms in Arafat's regime. "And secondly, there was this Arab summit meeting in which Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan mobilized their leaders to exert pressure on Arafat."

"An operation at this time would have foiled all the plans to move forward on the political track," Yishay said.

Derailing the Track

But some Palestinians are pointing to an event Sunday night that they say could obliterate the political track altogether.

It was the party conference of Likud, Ariel Sharon's own party. And he should have been riding high. Instead it was a humiliating night for Sharon — thanks to his predecesor and nemesis, Benjamin Netenyahu.

At issue was a resolution ruling out a Palestinian state, a concept that has drawn the reluctant support of Sharon. Netenyahu is adamantly opposed and Sunday proved to be a a showdown. There was heckling and, at times, the threat of fistfights.

"Yes" to a Palestinian state, Netenyahu said, means "no" to a Jewish state. Sharon tried to convince the crowd that passing the resolution would damage Israel diplomatically.

In the end, the vote went against Sharon. He left the stage to boos and even veteran observers were surprised by how acrimonious it all was.

"I'm not saying right or wrong but sacrificing his life to restore security, to make life better here, he deserved human treatment," said Daniel Ben-Simon, an Israeli journalist. "It was like the jungle, a lion eating a lion."

"This was a show of force by Netanyahu," Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, told Nightline "It might be create momentum towards the collapse of this government ... and the election of Netanyahu."

Parliamentary elections are not scheduled until autumn of 2003. But Indyk said this week's events could force new elections much sooner.

"I think that Netanyahu is calculating that he will be prime minister by the end of this year," he said.

It's not yet clear how damaging the vote really was. On the one hand, it's not binding on Sharon. He knows that outside the Likud party, most Israelis back a Palestinian state. More importantly, perhaps, so does the Bush administration.

But Sharon is now clearly on a collision course with many who used to support him. Not so unlike Arafat.

As Arafat wound up his tour Monday, the Palestinian leader promised his people they would get their state. Never mind who agrees or who does not, he said, but how and when and who will lead it are all still questions no one seems able to answer.