A revolt in the Gaza Strip against Yasser Arafat's autocratic rule worsened yesterday as dozens of militants linked to his own Fatah movement sacked a base of the Palestinian intelligence service, commanded by his cousin, Mousa Arafat.Autocratic? They never minded that Arafat is a terrorist who is directly responsible for the deaths of dozens of rivals in the last 30 years. NOOOOOOO. That's okay. Their dissatisfaction is due to his clumsy missteps. Kill a few people. That's okay. It's failure that bothers The Independent.
On the other hand, the BBC ignored the kidnapping altogether and focused on Arafat's diminishing authority.
Mr Arafat is responding to the latest crisis as though nothing has happened over the past few years to diminish his authority.Even the BBC is forced to acknowledge reality of the rebellion endangering the PLO.
If that were to happen, with even the illusion of a central authority gone, avoiding the descent into more chaos, and perhaps civil war, would be still more difficult than it is today.Neither the BBC nor The Independent worry overmuch that Mousa Arafat is wholly corrupt, the Prime Minister (2nd one in three years) has resigned to protest the continuing corruption. They are unbothered by murderous nature of the PLO, nor particularly upset at their methods.
What we ought to be seriously worried about is why the leftwing media so ready to pretend deafness and blindness to their own shortcomings in supporting the corrupt, murderous, venal PLO.
More here and here and this headline: "Arafat struggles to maintain control as PM offers to resign" - is from the Sydney Morning Herald.
