Abstract

Arafat's Police, Rabin's State

The article focuses on the PLO-Israeli peace process and the dark cloud looming over due to the latest suicide attacks on Israelis in Tel Aviv. This attack- as shown by mass protests by Jewish settlers in the West Bank the following week has left the Israeli public angry and Israel's political leadership determined to soldier on with "peace" yet also hesitant about how precisely to do so. In the immediate aftermath, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that the current round of negotiations would be "temporarily suspended" until after the funerals of the victims. PLO leader Yasir Arafat "completely condemned this terrorist activity," whose aim, he said, "was to sabotage the peace process." Responsibility for the attack remains unclear.