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Palestinians Peek Past Arafat at the Future
(Los Angeles Times) Laura King - Most observers believe that Arafat will be able to ride out this storm as he has so many others, "but there will be future clashes as the competition between potential heirs to Arafat goes ahead," said Hillel Frisch, an analyst at Bar-Ilan University. "All the while Hamas is gaining in popularity among [Palestinians], while Fatah is weakening," said Frisch. "Unfortunately, it's not a fight between the good and bad - it's between the bad and worse," said Bassam Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist. There is no tradition in the Arab world of a leader of Arafat's stature voluntarily giving up power. "Such a thing isn't part of our thinking or our vocabulary - there is no chance of Arafat stepping down by himself," said Rafiq Natsheh, a former Palestinian Cabinet minister.