Plus ca change? Arafat's Legacy Remains "Criminal and Terrorist"

Suha Arafat ranted loudly in Paris against the new leaders of the PA and the PLO over loot that was "amassed by Arafat over all these years" by "bilking the international community for aid and shaking down Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and around the Arab world doe pay-offs." Thus, the house that Arafat built is "a criminal syndicate, a den of thieves."

The amount is a staggering $6.5 billion that both Suha and the authority want to keep.

The subject of money and revenue was always touchy during negotiations, "bending out of shape" those PLO negotiators that discussing funds, taxes, or revenues.

Palestinian corruption was looked upon patronizingly in a favorable light by the Israelis and American negotiators as way to keep the "warlords fat" so that law and order was maintained and "prevent Israelis from getting killed."

Now that Arafat is dead, so is the plan. As did Suha, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have come out screaming that they will not tolerate the new PLO trying to tell them what to do. Arafat "had legitimacy with their organizations because he was a 'symbol' and the new PLO leaders are not." The new leaders are now doing a song and dance to show that they are of his path and will remain there.

And here we get to the crux of the issue. Arafat's men – from Qurei to Abbas to Farouk Kadoumi and even to Israeli Arab leaders like Knesset member Ahmed Tibi – owe their positions in the world to the fact that they were integral parts of Arafat's kingdom. It wasn't just Arafat that Israel insanely brought into Judea, Samaria and Gaza (and Israel) in 1994, but the entire terrorist and corrupt regime of the PLO. Though Arafat's death has finally been announced, his kingdom remains intact.

There can be no reform because there is "no reformist element" in the PLO. Violence and murder were and will be the order of the day for anyone foolish enough to attempt reform as past history has attested. The thieves won't be transparent and the terrorists will continue with the aim of no peaceful Palestinian state, but the destruction of the Jewish state. And world policies will continue as they always have.

There is a glimmer of hope from Washington --- President G.W. Bush said "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror. I call upon them to build a practicing democracy, based on tolerance and liberty."

The president called for other things: "economic transparency and an end to corruption of the P.A." This could work IF Israel's Left, the "enlightened peace supporters, doesn't wreck his plan. True change means that the PLO must go the way of Arafat.