Editorial
Why is Yitzhak Rabin all smiles with King Hussein and all frowns
with Yasser Arafat? It has been suggested that this was because the
Israeli Prime Minister and the Jordanian King have known each other
for decades and have met frequently. A de facto peace between
Jordan and Israel has prevailed for many years and only the King's
fears of becoming an outcast in the Arab world and of risking an
internal rebellion have prevented him from entering earlier into
peace negotiations with Israel.
In contrast, Arafat's PLO has been Israel's archenemy since its
inception in 1964 and over the years Jordan and Israel were
actually allies in the struggle against the PLO. Nevertheless,
there are far deeper explanations for Rabin's uneasiness with the
PLO Chairman. While since 1973, the dispute between Israel and the
neighboring Arab countries has become mainly a territorial dispute,
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a completely different
dimension: it is an existential and not only a territor
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