Suggested Link: CHAIRMAN ARAFAT
To the Middle East, and who can break the cycle of terror? With the death toll mounting from the suicide bombings, the Israelis say the buck stops with Yasser Arafat. He's the official head of the Fatah organisation to which many of the bombers ultimately belong. Yet while Arafat may still be the designated leader, is he still in charge? Middle East correspondent Chris Clark went to see the chairman at his beleaguered headquarters on the West Bank.
19:30
Tanks outside compound in ramallah
Music
19:39
Clark: For months, Israel has been parking tanks on Yasser Arafats front door. Israeli rockets have exploded just metres from his office.
19:55
Yasser Arafat is a prisoner. Unable as he once did to travel at will. Its his punishment for not stopping the suicide bombers and locking up the gunmen. Many think hes lucky to still be alive.
20:16
Yasser Interview
Cark: Are you doing everything you can to stop the attacks?
Arafat : I am doing 100 percent effort. But no-one can give 100 percent results. We have arrested many of those who are behind these activities, especially against Israeli civilians, which we cannot accept. We are against anything against our civilians and also we are against anything against Israeli civilians.
20:48
2 shot Yasser & Clark
Clark: Israels Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, says he doesnt plan to kill the Palestinian leader. But Yasser Arafat isnt so sure.
20:56
Yasser Interview
Clark: Do you think Mr Sharon would quite like to see you dead?
Arafat: You should ask him this question.
Clark: What do you think?
Arafat: Not to forget that there was something in his mind since the longest Arab-Israeli battle, which continued 88 days in Beirut. The siege of Beirut.
21:25
Siege of Beirut
Clark: Its 20 years since Ariel Sharon got his big chance to dispose of Yasser Arafat. During the famous siege of Beirut that reduced large areas of the Lebanese capital to rubble. It was home then to Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
21:44
Archival: Ariel Sharon
Clark: Ariel Sharon then Israeli defence minister -- led the campaign that drove them out.
21:53
Beirut
And just as Beirut still bears the scars, its left an enduring mark on the relationship between the two men.
21:59
Jumblat SUPER:Walid Jumblat, Lebanese MP
Jumblat: Same thing was during the siege of Beirut, also we were surrounded by tanks and planes and bombardments etcetera. And still Arafat is there. What can Sharon do, kill him? Okay and then what? It wont solve the Palestinian problem.
22:16
Archival: Yasser in crowd
Clark: Twenty years ago Walid Jumblat and Yasser Arafat were brothers in arms during Lebanons civil war. The leader of Lebanons Druze community warns against writing off the ageing Palestinian leader.
22:30
Jumblat
Jumblat: Hes a great survivor. Hes quite intelligent. And still hes the symbol, up to that moment, symbol of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.
22:45
Archival: Arafat leaving Beirut
Clark: When Mr Arafat sailed out of Beirut harbour all those years ago, many consigned him to the scrap heap of Palestinian politics.
22:54
Yasser Arafats flight from Beirut in 1982 was a humiliation, but at least he lived to fight another day and it was a close run thing. As Mr Arafat was about to board his boat, an Israeli sniper had him in his sights and asked for permission to fire. But the then Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon was told that Israel had agreed that Mr Arafat could leave Beirut alive. Twenty years later, Mr Sharon has his man cornered again.
23:24
Arafat
Cornered -- but to what end? The Israeli prime minister knows he cant kill the Palestinian leader but he wants to push him aside and deal with Palestinians he thinks he can trust people who really will stop the suicide bombers and gunmen.
23:39
Arafat interview
Clark: Does your call for a total ceasefire still hold in the occupied territories and in Israel proper?
23:45
Arafat: Yes. He was asking about seven days. You remember after my initiative last December we gave him 24 days and it was not me who was saying this. Even some of his ministers in his cabinet and some of his high officers had mentioned that Why we are not following what we had promised?
24:16
Clark: Mr Sharon says youre just not doing enough. Youre not arresting enough people.
24:20
Arafat: And now we have a problem because a majority of our prisons have been destroyed. Where do we have to put our prisoners?
Clark: Do you know at the moment how many people are still in the prisons that remain?
24:33
Arafat: We have it. But we have shifted them. We have difficulties no doubt and we are obliged to shift them after the damage which had happened to flats.
24:52
Clark: So when Mr. Sharon calls on you to lock up more people, is that possible for you?
Arafat: I am doing it.
Clark: Even now?
Arafat: Even now.
25:02
Marwan Barghouti
Clark: Marwan Barghouti is head of FATAH in the West Bank the largest faction in the PLO, controlled ultimately, by Yasser Arafat. When Mr Arafat calls for a ceasefire its Marwan Barghoutis job to convince the gunmen to put away their weapons.
25:18
SUPER: Marwan Barghouti Fatah
Barghouti: According to our experience, Im one of these people who dont believe there is any chance for the negotiations to succeed without resistance and intifada on the ground.
25:33
Poster of Arafat in ramallah and people in street
Clark: In broad terms, the debate within mainstream Palestinian politics is between a group of older leaders whove presided over nearly a decade of negotiations without getting a Palestinian state, and a younger guard who believe that Israelis will only talk when it really hurts.
25:50
Barghouti: I think this intifada came as a result of the Palestinian disappointment from the peace process and also from the way of the leadership led the peace process and the negotiations, and their performance in internal Palestinian society.
26:09
Arafat interview
Clark: Have you done everything you can to fight the corruption and the inefficiency within the Palestinian Authority?
26:15
Arafat: I m doing my best, and what you are mentioning -- corruption -- the corruption (is) everywhere all over the world. But we are taking care of this very important point and we are facing it.
26:43
Arafat with people
Clark: But even though those who have criticised the administration in the past, now put these concerns below the wider political objectives.
26:52
Nusseibeh
Nusseibeh: I don't think it makes any sense to blame one person -- namely Arafat -- for the failures of the entire Palestinian people, or the performance of the entire civil service. I'm not saying that Arafat is a wonderful administrator. He has his faults, but you know, even assuming the existence of these faults, the other people around him have to take into account the fact that they share the responsibility.
27:20
Clark: Sari Nussebieh is a Palestinian academic and politician whos made himself unpopular in his own community by uttering some painful truths, among them that most refugees will never be able to return to what is now Israel.
27:33
SUPER: Sari Nussebieh, Al Quds University
Nusseibeh: I think people have to have the courage, they have to have the transparency to say exactly what they think is possible and this has to be addressed to the Palestinian people. For instance, it is necessary for the Palestinian refugees to know that wholesale return to a pre-existing 67 Israel, in homes that some people dream exist, is just out of the question. It isn't possible.
28:09
Soldiers on steps with poster of Arafat
Music
28:18
Clark: Its two decades since Yasser Arafat fled Beirut. But his is still a powerful presence in the refugee camps of Lebanon. Here, the dream of returning to homes lost more than half a century ago is life itself.
28:34
Refugees in camp
The reality, that Israel will never agree to take back more than a few thousand Palestinian refugees, is rarely mentioned the right of return is a sacred tenet of the Palestinian struggle.
28:48
Mounier Maqdah in camp
Mounier Maqdah heads the FATAH militia in Ein al-Heilweh refugee camp in Lebanon. He supports the latest tactics of increasing armed attacks against Israeli targets and he has some advice for Mr Arafat.
29:01
Maqdah
Maqdah: Our people have chosen armed struggle against the occupation after ten years of hopeless negotiations because the Jews are Jews and they never keep their promises. If Arafat wants to keep his position as the symbolic and historic leader of the Palestinians he must choose the path of struggle against the occupation. If he goes back to negotiations hell lose his popularity.
29:30
Arafat with people
Clark: Mr Arafats critics will say that wont be a problem for him that hes always ready to sponsor violence when it suits him and to play the statesman when he has to. But the world is a little different now after September the 11th hes come close to losing the international legitimacy which is his great asset. Without it, his authority among Palestinians would be greatly diminished.
29:55
Arafat
Arafat: Not to forget, I had started the peace of the brave with my partner General Yitzhak Rabin who had been killed by these fanatic groups in Israel. And in spite of that and in spite of what we are facing, we cannot forget our promises with out partner Rabin, and we are completely committed to the peace of the brave which we are started. And for this we are in need of a quick move and a strong push from the international community, especially from the American Administration.
30:55
Outskirts of Ramallah
Clark: On the outskirts of Ramallah, Palestinians trudge up and down this road every day. They cant take their cars through and whether they move at all is up to the Israeli soldiers on the checkpoint. These are the daily frustrations of life under occupation which lie at the heart of Palestinian grievances.
31:16
Arafat Interview
Clark: Whos leading the uprising now? You, or the people in the street.
Arafat: The people. Do you see the humiliation. I dont know whether you have the opportunity to pass through one these checkpoints.
Clark: Frequently, frequently.
31:31
Arafat: Frequently. Do you see the humiliation of our people? What do you think? The assassination of our leaders. The destroying of all our infrastructures. The complete siege of our towns and cities and villages, and reoccupation again of our Palestinian areas who had been liberated according to Oslo agreements, which I had signed with my partner Rabin.
32:09
Arafats in Ramallah
Clark: Far from damaging his standing, being cooped up in Ramallah courtesy of the Israelis has probably helped street-cred.
To relieve the boredom, theyve been bringing in the party faithful little pep sessions to keep everyones spirits up rallying round Arafat, the one they call Abu Amar the builder.
32:33
Man in meeting
Man: Our message, comrades and brothers - Abu Amar is our leader and symbol. Our message to the Israelis and our message to the Americans -Abu Amar is our leader and symbol. Hes the one who was elected.
33:02
Arafat paraphernalia
Clark: Yasser Arafat is unique . No other Palestinian figure comes close to mustering such broad support. No other Palestinian appears on stamps with other world leaders or on t-shirts, or can be bought in inflatable form at the PLO souvenir shop. The merchandising of Yasser Arafat will not transform the Palestinian economy but it does reflect who he is the first popularly elected Palestinian leader.
33:31
Clark: It might be a little difficult to shift Yasser Arafat souvenirs at the moment but thats no reason to write-off the Palestinian leader. If anything, his confinement is has increased support. There are changes in Palestinian politics, but theyre being played out over years, not weeks or even months. For the moment, Yasser Arafat remains very firmly at the top.
33:55
Streets of Ramallah
Not that youd think so talking to one the leaders of the PLOs strongest faction, whose endorsement of his leader is clearly conditional.
34:02
Barghouti SUPER: Marwan Barghouti Fatah
Barghouti: We should give the priority now for the struggle against Israeli occupation, and the people who lead the struggle against the occupation should lead the Palestinian people.
34:14
Clark: Does that still leave a place for President Arafat, as that struggle continues?
Barghouti: Yes, of course. I think Mr Arafat is leading the Palestinian struggle.
Music
Palestinians in street
Clark: Yasser Arafat is having trouble holding the line with his own people. He might still be committed publicly to the peace of the brave but the patience of many Palestinians has simply run out. And his priority now isnt so much peace with Israel but peace within his own ranks.
34:55
Credits:
CHAIRMAN ARAFAT
Reporter: Chris Clark
Camera: Louie Eroglu
Sound: Kate Graham
Editors: Stuart Miller and Simon Brynjolffssen
To the Middle East, and who can break the cycle of terror? With the death toll mounting from the suicide bombings, the Israelis say the buck stops with Yasser Arafat. He's the official head of the Fatah organisation to which many of the bombers ultimately belong. Yet while Arafat may still be the designated leader, is he still in charge? Middle East correspondent Chris Clark went to see the chairman at his beleaguered headquarters on the West Bank.
19:30
Tanks outside compound in ramallah
Music
19:39
Clark: For months, Israel has been parking tanks on Yasser Arafats front door. Israeli rockets have exploded just metres from his office.
19:55
Yasser Arafat is a prisoner. Unable as he once did to travel at will. Its his punishment for not stopping the suicide bombers and locking up the gunmen. Many think hes lucky to still be alive.
20:16
Yasser Interview
Cark: Are you doing everything you can to stop the attacks?
Arafat : I am doing 100 percent effort. But no-one can give 100 percent results. We have arrested many of those who are behind these activities, especially against Israeli civilians, which we cannot accept. We are against anything against our civilians and also we are against anything against Israeli civilians.
20:48
2 shot Yasser & Clark
Clark: Israels Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, says he doesnt plan to kill the Palestinian leader. But Yasser Arafat isnt so sure.
20:56
Yasser Interview
Clark: Do you think Mr Sharon would quite like to see you dead?
Arafat: You should ask him this question.
Clark: What do you think?
Arafat: Not to forget that there was something in his mind since the longest Arab-Israeli battle, which continued 88 days in Beirut. The siege of Beirut.
21:25
Siege of Beirut
Clark: Its 20 years since Ariel Sharon got his big chance to dispose of Yasser Arafat. During the famous siege of Beirut that reduced large areas of the Lebanese capital to rubble. It was home then to Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
21:44
Archival: Ariel Sharon
Clark: Ariel Sharon then Israeli defence minister -- led the campaign that drove them out.
21:53
Beirut
And just as Beirut still bears the scars, its left an enduring mark on the relationship between the two men.
21:59
Jumblat SUPER:Walid Jumblat, Lebanese MP
Jumblat: Same thing was during the siege of Beirut, also we were surrounded by tanks and planes and bombardments etcetera. And still Arafat is there. What can Sharon do, kill him? Okay and then what? It wont solve the Palestinian problem.
22:16
Archival: Yasser in crowd
Clark: Twenty years ago Walid Jumblat and Yasser Arafat were brothers in arms during Lebanons civil war. The leader of Lebanons Druze community warns against writing off the ageing Palestinian leader.
22:30
Jumblat
Jumblat: Hes a great survivor. Hes quite intelligent. And still hes the symbol, up to that moment, symbol of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.
22:45
Archival: Arafat leaving Beirut
Clark: When Mr Arafat sailed out of Beirut harbour all those years ago, many consigned him to the scrap heap of Palestinian politics.
22:54
Yasser Arafats flight from Beirut in 1982 was a humiliation, but at least he lived to fight another day and it was a close run thing. As Mr Arafat was about to board his boat, an Israeli sniper had him in his sights and asked for permission to fire. But the then Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon was told that Israel had agreed that Mr Arafat could leave Beirut alive. Twenty years later, Mr Sharon has his man cornered again.
23:24
Arafat
Cornered -- but to what end? The Israeli prime minister knows he cant kill the Palestinian leader but he wants to push him aside and deal with Palestinians he thinks he can trust people who really will stop the suicide bombers and gunmen.
23:39
Arafat interview
Clark: Does your call for a total ceasefire still hold in the occupied territories and in Israel proper?
23:45
Arafat: Yes. He was asking about seven days. You remember after my initiative last December we gave him 24 days and it was not me who was saying this. Even some of his ministers in his cabinet and some of his high officers had mentioned that Why we are not following what we had promised?
24:16
Clark: Mr Sharon says youre just not doing enough. Youre not arresting enough people.
24:20
Arafat: And now we have a problem because a majority of our prisons have been destroyed. Where do we have to put our prisoners?
Clark: Do you know at the moment how many people are still in the prisons that remain?
24:33
Arafat: We have it. But we have shifted them. We have difficulties no doubt and we are obliged to shift them after the damage which had happened to flats.
24:52
Clark: So when Mr. Sharon calls on you to lock up more people, is that possible for you?
Arafat: I am doing it.
Clark: Even now?
Arafat: Even now.
25:02
Marwan Barghouti
Clark: Marwan Barghouti is head of FATAH in the West Bank the largest faction in the PLO, controlled ultimately, by Yasser Arafat. When Mr Arafat calls for a ceasefire its Marwan Barghoutis job to convince the gunmen to put away their weapons.
25:18
SUPER: Marwan Barghouti Fatah
Barghouti: According to our experience, Im one of these people who dont believe there is any chance for the negotiations to succeed without resistance and intifada on the ground.
25:33
Poster of Arafat in ramallah and people in street
Clark: In broad terms, the debate within mainstream Palestinian politics is between a group of older leaders whove presided over nearly a decade of negotiations without getting a Palestinian state, and a younger guard who believe that Israelis will only talk when it really hurts.
25:50
Barghouti: I think this intifada came as a result of the Palestinian disappointment from the peace process and also from the way of the leadership led the peace process and the negotiations, and their performance in internal Palestinian society.
26:09
Arafat interview
Clark: Have you done everything you can to fight the corruption and the inefficiency within the Palestinian Authority?
26:15
Arafat: I m doing my best, and what you are mentioning -- corruption -- the corruption (is) everywhere all over the world. But we are taking care of this very important point and we are facing it.
26:43
Arafat with people
Clark: But even though those who have criticised the administration in the past, now put these concerns below the wider political objectives.
26:52
Nusseibeh
Nusseibeh: I don't think it makes any sense to blame one person -- namely Arafat -- for the failures of the entire Palestinian people, or the performance of the entire civil service. I'm not saying that Arafat is a wonderful administrator. He has his faults, but you know, even assuming the existence of these faults, the other people around him have to take into account the fact that they share the responsibility.
27:20
Clark: Sari Nussebieh is a Palestinian academic and politician whos made himself unpopular in his own community by uttering some painful truths, among them that most refugees will never be able to return to what is now Israel.
27:33
SUPER: Sari Nussebieh, Al Quds University
Nusseibeh: I think people have to have the courage, they have to have the transparency to say exactly what they think is possible and this has to be addressed to the Palestinian people. For instance, it is necessary for the Palestinian refugees to know that wholesale return to a pre-existing 67 Israel, in homes that some people dream exist, is just out of the question. It isn't possible.
28:09
Soldiers on steps with poster of Arafat
Music
28:18
Clark: Its two decades since Yasser Arafat fled Beirut. But his is still a powerful presence in the refugee camps of Lebanon. Here, the dream of returning to homes lost more than half a century ago is life itself.
28:34
Refugees in camp
The reality, that Israel will never agree to take back more than a few thousand Palestinian refugees, is rarely mentioned the right of return is a sacred tenet of the Palestinian struggle.
28:48
Mounier Maqdah in camp
Mounier Maqdah heads the FATAH militia in Ein al-Heilweh refugee camp in Lebanon. He supports the latest tactics of increasing armed attacks against Israeli targets and he has some advice for Mr Arafat.
29:01
Maqdah
Maqdah: Our people have chosen armed struggle against the occupation after ten years of hopeless negotiations because the Jews are Jews and they never keep their promises. If Arafat wants to keep his position as the symbolic and historic leader of the Palestinians he must choose the path of struggle against the occupation. If he goes back to negotiations hell lose his popularity.
29:30
Arafat with people
Clark: Mr Arafats critics will say that wont be a problem for him that hes always ready to sponsor violence when it suits him and to play the statesman when he has to. But the world is a little different now after September the 11th hes come close to losing the international legitimacy which is his great asset. Without it, his authority among Palestinians would be greatly diminished.
29:55
Arafat
Arafat: Not to forget, I had started the peace of the brave with my partner General Yitzhak Rabin who had been killed by these fanatic groups in Israel. And in spite of that and in spite of what we are facing, we cannot forget our promises with out partner Rabin, and we are completely committed to the peace of the brave which we are started. And for this we are in need of a quick move and a strong push from the international community, especially from the American Administration.
30:55
Outskirts of Ramallah
Clark: On the outskirts of Ramallah, Palestinians trudge up and down this road every day. They cant take their cars through and whether they move at all is up to the Israeli soldiers on the checkpoint. These are the daily frustrations of life under occupation which lie at the heart of Palestinian grievances.
31:16
Arafat Interview
Clark: Whos leading the uprising now? You, or the people in the street.
Arafat: The people. Do you see the humiliation. I dont know whether you have the opportunity to pass through one these checkpoints.
Clark: Frequently, frequently.
31:31
Arafat: Frequently. Do you see the humiliation of our people? What do you think? The assassination of our leaders. The destroying of all our infrastructures. The complete siege of our towns and cities and villages, and reoccupation again of our Palestinian areas who had been liberated according to Oslo agreements, which I had signed with my partner Rabin.
32:09
Arafats in Ramallah
Clark: Far from damaging his standing, being cooped up in Ramallah courtesy of the Israelis has probably helped street-cred.
To relieve the boredom, theyve been bringing in the party faithful little pep sessions to keep everyones spirits up rallying round Arafat, the one they call Abu Amar the builder.
32:33
Man in meeting
Man: Our message, comrades and brothers - Abu Amar is our leader and symbol. Our message to the Israelis and our message to the Americans -Abu Amar is our leader and symbol. Hes the one who was elected.
33:02
Arafat paraphernalia
Clark: Yasser Arafat is unique . No other Palestinian figure comes close to mustering such broad support. No other Palestinian appears on stamps with other world leaders or on t-shirts, or can be bought in inflatable form at the PLO souvenir shop. The merchandising of Yasser Arafat will not transform the Palestinian economy but it does reflect who he is the first popularly elected Palestinian leader.
33:31
Clark: It might be a little difficult to shift Yasser Arafat souvenirs at the moment but thats no reason to write-off the Palestinian leader. If anything, his confinement is has increased support. There are changes in Palestinian politics, but theyre being played out over years, not weeks or even months. For the moment, Yasser Arafat remains very firmly at the top.
33:55
Streets of Ramallah
Not that youd think so talking to one the leaders of the PLOs strongest faction, whose endorsement of his leader is clearly conditional.
34:02
Barghouti SUPER: Marwan Barghouti Fatah
Barghouti: We should give the priority now for the struggle against Israeli occupation, and the people who lead the struggle against the occupation should lead the Palestinian people.
34:14
Clark: Does that still leave a place for President Arafat, as that struggle continues?
Barghouti: Yes, of course. I think Mr Arafat is leading the Palestinian struggle.
Music
Palestinians in street
Clark: Yasser Arafat is having trouble holding the line with his own people. He might still be committed publicly to the peace of the brave but the patience of many Palestinians has simply run out. And his priority now isnt so much peace with Israel but peace within his own ranks.
34:55
Credits:
CHAIRMAN ARAFAT
Reporter: Chris Clark
Camera: Louie Eroglu
Sound: Kate Graham
Editors: Stuart Miller and Simon Brynjolffssen