Ordinary Palestinians including a section of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade saw the appointment of his nephew by Chairman Arafat as a symbol of entrenched cronyism and nepotism. Chairman Arafat had to rescind the appointment and re-appointed Abdel Razak al-Majaideh as the security chief of West Bank and Gaza. However his nephew remained the head of the general security branch in the Gaza Strip, rather than the whole of the Palestinian territories.

Causes of the Uprising
The world security environment, in particular in the Middle East, has undergone a seismic shift since the September 11 attacks on the US. Saddam Hussein has been toppled and Iraq is under the US-backed interim Iraqi government. Syria is under pressure from the US to mend its ways. Jordan is a close ally of the US.

The Arab TV revolution (Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya) has given a voice to Arab people. The actions of Arab leaders are not any more immune from criticism, both within and outside. Furthermore, a "wind of change" towards people's participation in their governments is blowing in Arab countries, strongly supported by the Bush administration.

Palestinians in general cannot be immune from such change in the region. The uprising, although it arose primarily out of the appointment of Arafat's nephew, goes much deeper. It is the tip of the iceberg. It demonstrates that the new generation of Palestinians appears to have lost confidence in the "old guard" of Palestinian leadership. They accuse them of mismanagement, cronyism, nepotism, and corruption within the Palestinian Authority. Because of these shortcomings, the credibility of the Palestinian Authority is being questioned in Western capitals.

Furthermore, the "old guard" primarily consists of Palestinians who came from Tunisia in 1994 to the West Bank and Gaza (after they were expelled from Lebanon in the 1980s) and the local Palestinians call them "Tunisians." To the local Palestinians, the "Tunisians" have lost touch with the ordinary young generation of Palestinians and have consistently resisted all reforms in their "dictatorial" nature of administration. It seems Palestinians want a new leadership with reinvigorated commitment to assist ordinary Palestinians, although Yasser Arafat is widely respected for his struggle to put the Palestinian cause in the world map.

The US Secretary of State Powell said : "Right now there is a debate going on within the Palestinian community about the role of Chairman Arafat, the role of the Prime Minister, the organisation of the security forces and this is a problem that can only be solved by the Palestinians."

No Elections for Palestinian People since 1995
Since 1995, no election took place in Palestinian lands to express the voice of ordinary Palestinians as to how the Palestinian Authority is governed. Chairman Arafat and the Legislative Council were elected in 1995. Much water has flown through the river Jordan but there is no sign of holding of elections or reforms of the administration to reflect the wishes of ordinary Palestinians.

It is argued that elections in Palestinian lands (West Bank and Gaza Strip) cannot be held under Israeli military occupation. No one appears to be impressed by this line of argument any more, specially in the Western countries.

Tension between the Chairman and the Prime Minister
The tension between the Chairman and the Prime Minister publicly continues. The first Prime Minister Abu Mazen had to resign because he had no power. The existing Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) resigned twice in recent days because he felt frustrated in not being able to do anything to quell the uprising. No Prime Minister wants to be a "toothless tiger."

The security services have been under the full control of the Chairman and reportedly reluctant to cede control to the Prime Minister. It seems that the more Chairman Arafat is being sidelined by Israel and the Bush administration, the more adamant he has become not to share power with the Prime Minister. This may be designed to show to the US and Israel that he alone has the ultimate power to negotiate settlement. The US policy of sidelining elected chairman Yasser Arafat is seriously flawed and does not help the situation.

Even the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is concerned with the destabilising situation between the Chairman and the Prime Minister. He urged Chairman Arafat to "take the time to listen" to the Prime Minister and carry out the reforms international mediators have called for as a condition for advancing "road map" to peace plan, promising Palestinians a state in Gaza and the West Bank.

Many Arab commentators say that the Palestinian Authority could have been modeled on a democratic tradition but it did not. All powers seem to be vested in one person and ordinary Palestinians resent such concentration of power on one single individual at a time when their democratic aspirations are on high in the Arab world.

Democratic principles are not a Western concept. They mean transparency, accountability, and good governance. They also imply that leaders should not disregard the necessity of public morality in their actions and conduct. They should not behave and act as though the financial resources were little more than their private property. No leader should think that he or she is indispensable.

Missed Opportunities for Palestinians
While accusation can rightly be pointed out to the US and Jewish lobby in rich countries for their unstinted support to Israel for its barbaric atrocities on Palestinians, it is not unfair to say that Arab and Palestinian leadership cannot be wholly absolved from their responsibility in the mess. There is no point in always blaming others, and one needs to be critical about oneself as well, as to whether one has missed or not the opportunity.

Many believe that Palestinian leaderships have made two political mistakes. First, they should have accepted the partition of Palestinian land as agreed by the UN through resolution 181 of 1947. Second, they should have agreed to the solution brokered by former US President Bill Clinton between the Barak Israeli government and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2000. Many political analysts say that Arab countries should have intervened with the Palestinian leadership to accept the best possible deal under Israel's Labour Government, supported by the Clinton administration. The art of politics does not rest on emotions but on a hard calculated compromise, given the situation.

United Arab Leadership is Needed
Arab countries fought armed conflicts three times with Israel and were defeated. Each time as a result of war, Palestinians lost to Israel substantial part of their lands, originally earmarked for Palestinian state by the UN. It is sad to see that what Palestinians now are fighting for is only a third of the land of what was originally meant for them in 1948.

One thumb rule in armed conflict is to weigh strength and power of an adversary and it seems unbelievable to many military strategists that the Arab countries went into war without proper assessment of military power of Israel. They knew that they were fighting an entity that has sophisticated weapons and intelligence services provided by the US.

The bottom line appears to be about the leadership of Arab countries in addressing the plight of millions of Palestinians who live as refugees. The Arab League meets and adopts resolution but no concrete action is taken. This is partly because the Arab world is sharply divided.

Arab political leadership requires taking a new and bold course of action. Many political analysts believe that Arab leaders ought to embrace a vision and underwrite it with reinvigorated peace process of their own. No peace initiative except Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah's peace proposal has been floated.

Furthermore a commitment to providing immediate financial assistance to Palestinians will radically alter the daily life of unemployed youths (almost 60 percent). Palestinians should not depend on their jobs in Israel for their livelihood. Arab countries are rich enough to ensure that Palestinians get a minimum quality of life and build their own economy.

A campaign must be in place by Arab countries ( 21 countries in total) to build support and galvanise opinion in the US into a potent force against Sharon's inhuman policies against Palestinians and for peace. Many of the Arab countries are oil-producing countries and have considerable influence on Washington.

Conclusion
Although Chairman Yasser Arafat is an icon for Palestinians and they have great respect and sympathy for him for being confined to Ramallah, almost being in a position of house arrest, for more than two years by the Sharon government, there is a pressure on him, from local Palestinian population and international mediators, to surrender some of his powers to the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, Israel has been carrying out unlawful and inhuman atrocities on Palestinians, killing thousands of them, including the wheel-chair bound spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin. Many political veterans in the Arab world believe that prior to negotiated peace with Israel, the Palestinian leaderships have to resolve their internal problems first and gain credibility abroad. In this connection, it is noted that Surah Ra'ad (XIII) in Verse 11 of the Holy Qur'an proclaims:

Verily never
Will Allah change the condition
Of a people until they
Change it themselves.

Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.