Papers assess Arafat relevance

Papers in the Middle East focus on the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, following Israeli threats to expel or even kill him.

In Israel, the press suggests the government does not have a clear strategy for a post-Arafat era.

Arabic papers insist that the "roadmap" plan for peace is still the only way forward.

It is possible to say without any exaggeration that this has been the most relevant week of the irrelevant man... Arafat's relevance cried out from everywhere: from the demonstrations of support in the territories, from the world media, the many interviews he gave, from the American declarations, and mainly from the vote at the UN.

Yedi'ot Aharonot - Israel (commentary by Sima Qadmon)

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The Israeli government today has no policy for a post-Arafat era... Thus Arafat's expulsion will turn out to be only the first before the next expulsion of a Palestinian leader, and so on and so forth.

Ha'aretz - Israel (commentary by Ze'ev Schiff)

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Arafat returned to be the only game in town, but Israel does not want to play on his playground, to the extent that Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom dismissed Arafat's offer of a renewed truce.

Ma'ariv - Israel (commentary by Hemi Shalev)

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Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz says we have had many opportunities to remove Arafat, but there was no decision. Now there is a decision, but there is no opportunity. We will wait patiently for the next opportunity.

Ma'ariv - Israel (commentary by Ben Kaspit)

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The preoccupation with Arafat and his removal, whether by elimination or expulsion, betrays an alarming poverty of political vision, imagination and will on the part of Israel's government. It is here, I would argue, that our real problems lie.

Jerusalem Post - Israel (commentary by Gilead Sher)

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The killing of Yasser Arafat will not resolve any problem but will rather worsen the situation... The roadmap is the only solution to the Middle East crisis.

Al-Ahram - Egypt

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Without doubt the current situation... calls on the US administration to reassess its biased pro-Israel policies, now that it has failed to implement the roadmap.

Al-Jumhuriyah - Egypt

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Total commitment and adherence to the roadmap is the best option to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis.

Al-Ra'y - Jordan

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The problem with Arafat is that he wants to believe that nothing can happen without him, though it is clear that nothing will happen with his presence.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat - London

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BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.