West Asia : Importance of Arafat

Importance of Arafat The overwhelming support in the UN general assembly for the beleaguered Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has once again returned him to the spotlight. While a new roadmap for peace in west Asia was widely welcomed in all quarters early this year, simultaneous American and Israeli efforts to marginalise Arafat met with resentment and were bound to fail. Arafat still retains far more than just symbolic importance among Palestinians. According to Israel and the US, however, refusal by radical Palestinian groups, and Yasser Arafat, to abandon terror forms the biggest obstacle to peace in the region.