from MS SLATE'S "Today's Papers" news summary: >The Washington Post, New York Times, and USA Today lead with the series of three suicide bombs in Israel this past weekend that killed 25 people and wounded two hundred. The latest bombing, in the port city of Haifa, killed 15. Hamas claimed credit for the attacks. The Los Angeles Times leads with the U.S.'s tough talk to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. "It's a moment of truth for Mr. Arafat," said Secretary of State Powell, who spoke with the Palestinian leader yesterday. "I said to him, 'This cannot be just a "We'll round up some suspects and that'll be the end of it." You've got to go beyond that.'" ... >Arafat ordered a state of emergency and promised to arrest members of Hamas and other radical organizations. Israel and the U.S. weren't impressed. Neither was the Post, which went to press before the late-breaking development that the Palestinian Authority had actually begun the arrests. The paper's above-the-fold analysis is headlined: ARAFAT PICKS WORDS OVER ACTIONS. The NYT, meanwhile, says that Arafat has "accepted the terms" of what the Times calls "a dangerous test." The papers explain that Arafat may be trapped because Hamas likely has more support among Palestinians than he does. >The papers all go high with President Bush's response to the attacks, specifically his demands of Arafat, which the NYT says "paralleled" the President's demands of the Taliban. "Chairman Arafat must do everything in his power to find those who murdered innocent Israelis and bring them to justice," said Bush. If Arafat doesn't crack down sufficiently, he risks political isolation and, says the Post, being kicked out of the territories or even killed by the Israelis. >The NYT, in the 17th [para]graph of its lead, mentions one potential consequence of the bombings: The U.S. will probably hold-off on any potential showdown with Iraq. "We just can't overload the circuits," said one official.< Methinks that the US victory against Afghanistan is allowing the US power elite to spread its ethic of vigilantism more widely (even if it protects Iraq for a bit). It's now moving to agree with Ariel Sharon's approach in occupied Palestine, which then encourages the worst of the Palestinans to counterattack, which encourages Sharon... for ever & ever, a new type of holocaust.
One things the hubristic power elite misses is that by attacking Arafat, they are strengthening Hamas. The latter's strength has risen as the Arafat and the relatively secularist PLO have proven themselves to be corrupt, ineffective, and authoritarian, clinging to little bits of power. People upset with Israel's bloody occupation turn to Hamas and the like. The world is going to hell in a handbasket... The retribution for the US elite's hubris is likely to come back to kill some of its subjects (i.e., us), as with 911.
