Yasser Arafat screwed up when he was offered an opportunity for an independent Palestine by Ehud Barak, and he rejected it without even negotiating. He did it because he did not have the courage to go against his hardliners. In the last Israeli election, Netanyahu said he would not allow a Palestinian state under his watch and maligned the Israeli Arabs who make up 1/5 of his citizens to appease his hardliners and play on the fears of undecided Israeli Jewish voters. After the election, he said that he just meant that a non-militarized Palestinian state would be OK to appease the international community and sane American Jews who support Israel but not the new fanatics who have a brand of Zionism that differs from the democratic one that Theodore Herzl envisioned. Mr. Netanyahu's cowardice (and the sheep who follow him) put Israel at risk just as Arafat's cowardice destroyed Palestinian independence.
The fact is that the second Netanyahu (the one who allowed for a non-militarized Palestine) put forth an idea that is in sync with that of the USA under President Obama and probably with the international community if they could trust that Bibi is serious and not just blowing gas out of his mouth that should be coming from the other end. Although they would not openly admit it out of their own cowardice, I suspect that many in the Fatah leadership secretly think the same way. Palestine really needs economic development, and militarization would only be an unnecessary expense. But how can you expect courage from the Palestinian leadership when Israel elects leaders who are too chicken to oppose the settlers.
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