Yasser Arafat's qualified "yes" to President Clinton33;s proposals also looks a lot like a "no." What's his game? "Arafat is under more pressure than he's ever been. First he's pressured by the Americans to sign a deal. But then he's pressured by his own people, and by some of the most important Arab countries, not to sign. Arafat knows that saying no to Clinton is something very dangerous, but that accepting the American proposals is also very dangerous. So he has to find a formula in which he can appear to be both accepting them and rejecting them.
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So will the pro-Western Arab regimes encourage Arafat to make a deal?
"Over their dead bodies. The Arab leaders are mortally afraid of stirring up internal opposition. If they push Arafat to make this deal, they'll face huge demonstrations in every major Arab city, and they're not prepared to risk that. So Arafat is squeezed in the middle. The Saudis, according to good sources, are telling Arafat not to sign, promising that they'd get him a better deal from the Bush administration — they're telling Arafat they have good relations with the Republicans, and that he should wait for Bush to take office. The Egyptians are speaking double speak, the Jordanians fear the spread of the intifada across the Jordan river, and the Syrians don33;t want to see Arafat sign a peace deal with Israel which would leave them facing Israel alone.
"Let's wait and see what happens on Thursday, when the Arab League meets in Cairo. The Syrians are going to lead the opposition to any deal. And even in a secret session, Egypt and the Saudis will be afraid to support the Clinton plan, because they know the Syrians will leak their positions and leave them facing the wrath of their own people."
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