Arafat Says No To Peace, Again

Once again, Yassar Arafat had an opportunity to make a real gesture of conciliation in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Once again, he refused to let control of the security apparatus of the state pass to someone else.

So long as Yassar is pulling the puppet strings in Ramallah there is no hope of the Palestinian Authority morphing into an organization that can be reasoned with or trusted. Arafat is an unreformed terrorist, pure and simple. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that maxim "never negotiate with terrorists." This would be a good time to remember.

So long as the Palestinians think that we're going to negotiate with this twit there will be no incentive for them to actually figure out how to pursue peace. They constantly claim that arresting terrorists will lead to civil war. That's only because the top terrorist will not stand in the way of the thugs formenting the discord.

Arafat fears giving up the security apparatus because he knows that if someone else were in charge they could squash a rebellion by the rabble rousers. And then, a true peace, based on trust could be formed as opposed to Arafat's goal of peace through annihilation.

But for the time being, Arafat still has control of his brownshirt squadrons. And the prospects for peace are still in the gutter. Just like Yassar wants.