Abu Ammar Was Trying to Create a Single Front

“Arafat: The Biography” (Tony Walker/Andrew Gowers) は、「オスロ合意」の直前まで読み進んだ。水没したため読み終えられなかったRubin/Rubin の“Arafat: Political Biography” はずいぶん議長に批判的で、嘲笑的でさえあったが、Walker/Gowers の方は比較すれば好意的な内容だと思う。

湾岸戦争に至る過程でのバグダッド訪問は政治的に大失策だったが、「アラブの解決」や戦争回避の努力だと解釈すれば別の見方もできる。

[I]n his attempt to ensure that the forthcoming PNC would prove reasonably representative of Palestinian aspirations, Arafat traveled to Khartoum in the first week of September [of 1991] for a meeting with Ibrahim Ghosheh, spokesman for Hamas… which had its strongest roots in the Gaza Strip, and which had emerged as a powerful and militant counterweight to Fatah. For some time, Arafat had been attempting to draw Hamas into the broad PLO church. (pp. 340-341) 「ハマス」がさほど注目されていなかった時期だ。