ARAFAT OPENS SESSION OF PARLIAMENT\Violence hangs over new Palestinian era.Byline: Serge Schmemann Serge Schmemann (born April 12, 1945) is a writer and Editorial Page Editor of the International Herald Tribune. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Associated Press and was a bureau chief and editor for the New York Times. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Though besieged be·siege tr.v. be·sieged, be·sieg·ing, be·sieg·es 1. To surround with hostile forces. 2. To crowd around; hem in. 3. by an angry Israel and forced to wage war on his own people, Yasser Arafat convened the first Palestinian legislative council The Palestinian Legislative Council, (sometimes referred to as the Palestinan Parliament) the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza. Thursday and proclaimed "the birth of a new democracy in the Middle East Proposed reasons for the relative absence of liberal democracy in the Middle East are diverse, from the long history of imperial rule by the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France and the contemporary political and military intervention by the United States, all of which have been blamed for ." The event was to have been a crowning moment for Arafat, the conferring of legitimate nationhood on the Palestinians. The trappings were all there - an Egyptian military band, an honor guard that snapped to attention when Arafat marched by, foreign diplomats with flags flapping from their limousines. But there was no concealing the bleakness of the moment for the Palestinians, as for the Israelis, after the human and political carnage of four recent bombings in Israel. A tight Israeli siege of all Palestinian regions was already causing shortages of flour and fuel in Gaza, and newly elected deputies of the Palestinian Council from the West Bank had a humiliating hu·mil·i·ate tr.v. hu·mil·i·at·ed, hu·mil·i·at·ing, hu·mil·i·ates To lower the pride, dignity, or self-respect of. See Synonyms at degrade. wait at an Israeli checkpoint for hours before they were allowed into Gaza. There were constant reports of harsh new measures by Israeli troops in the West Bank, and by the Palestinian police in Gaza, as both sides worked grimly to put a stranglehold on Islamic radicals responsible for the new terror, and to salvage the peace they had launched so hopefully two-and-a-half years earlier. Outside the modern cultural center where the legislators held their inaugural session, the worst storm of the winter raged, bending palm trees with gale-force winds and pummeling the glass roof with rain and hail. Arafat, his future as the first Palestinian president hanging in the balance, struggled bravely to put the best face on the day. "Don't be sad," he counseled the 88 new deputies arrayed before him. "We will overcome if we believe in God." Then, his voice rising to a shout and his fist slamming each point home, he declared: "The peace of the brave that began with the declaration of principles signed by the PLO PLO abbr. Palestine Liberation Organization PLO Palestine Liberation Organization Noun 1. PLO and Israel will go on, will go on, will go on! We will not allow any enemy of the Palestinians, inside or outside, to take it away. We will not allow violence or terrorism to stop this peace process." Yet even as he lashed out at "terrorism" and sent his police into Islamic institutions to fight against Hamas, the Islamic opposition group whose militant wings claimed responsibility for the wave of violence, Arafat still felt compelled to pay tribute to the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who is being held in an Israeli jail, and to repeat his dubious claim that the Hamas suicide bombers had been assisted by Jewish right-wing radicals. That has always been his style. All through his years as the leader of the Palestinian cause in exile, balancing competing factions and maneuvering around competing sponsors, Arafat's preference was to compromise, to avoid hard choices, to keep options open. But now an enraged en·rage tr.v. en·raged, en·rag·ing, en·rag·es To put into a rage; infuriate. [Middle English *enragen, from Old French enrager : en-, causative pref. Israel is demanding action, real and immediate, and threatening to enter his domains and undermine his authority if he continues to delay the arrests of top Hamas military leaders. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo Yasser Arafat, left, and Salieam Al-Zanno, chairman of the Palestinian National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and elects its Central Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. The Council normally meets every two years. , start the inaugural session with a prayer. Associated Press |
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