Sorry for the long silence. I am in Israel without a laptop and the local library decided that my blog is indecent or some such thing. The country is obsessed with the political rivalry between Prime Minister Sharon and former Prime Minister Netaniahu. I beleive it is much ado about nothing. The Gaza disengagement is much more interesting as Egypt entered the Israeli Palestinian fray by offering to share responsibility for Gaza. In other words, Arafat's disfunction is obvious to all, even the Egytptians.

The saddest phenomenon is Arafat's claim to be the ELECTED leader of the Palestinians. He ran virtually unopposed ( an elderly woman opposed him on principle but failed to campaign) and was elected by 83% of the people. He refused to schedule elections since. He is the most obvious example of the feared phenomenon of one elections one time. As an Egyptian paper urged - its time for him to go.