McGrath of Harlow - 23 Mar 04 - 04:45 PM

"And with Hamas greatly strengthened now by this assassination... That, I think, is one of the main reasons it happened."

I believe you could be right there Kevin. The emergence of Hamas as the organisation speaking for the Palestinian people would do two things:

1. Get rid of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, which has never had any authority, or at least has never exercised it for fear of losing what support it has. Arafat's motives as leader of this organisation ran more towards financial gain - any solution cuts off his own opportunities to rob the Palestinian people.

2. It injects a bit of reality into the "Peace Process". On the one side you will have the Israeli's and on the other side you will have the Palestinian organisation whose sole reported aim is the total destruction of the State of Israel.

The Israeli's have shown time and time again that they are fully prepared to negotiate. The Palestinian Authority has flirted with the idea but have proved as constant in their intent as a wind-sock, shackled to the likes of the Al-Aqsa Brigade, Hamas and Hezbollah, whose position is stated time and time again as non-negotiable.

At last the Palestinian side of the arguement will be shown clearly to all.