Report: Israel preparing for day after Arafat

[Scurrilous]

http://www.maarivenglish.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=9772

<snip>

Officials formulate scenario in which they estimate thousands of Palestinians will blame Israel for his death and attempt to bury him on the Temple Mount.

"Political and defense officials have prepared a scenario regarding the effect the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will have on the region, Army Radio reported this (Wednesday) morning.

According to one option, the death of the PA chairman will cause chaos in the territories and the Palestinians will blame Israel, while thousands of Palestinians will try to move Arafat's dead body from Ramallah to the Temple Mount, as was attempted during the funeral of Faisal Husseini, a senior Palestinian leader. It has therefore been advised that Arafat should be buried in the East Jerusalem district of Abu-Dis, so that the standing of Jerusalem will not be affected.

The report indicates three ways in which it is believed that Arafat will die: death by war, a sudden but natural death or death after a long illness."

<snip>

"According to estimates, Arafat's death will bring anger amongst the Palestinians, resulting in a stronger Hamas. Israel will be heavily pressured while international forces will be needed in order to handle the situation in the territories. It is important that Israel holds close contacts with Jordan and Egypt in order to handle Arafat's death."

[fairfaxvadem]

1. Just another demonstration of the insanity in the world.

I'm reading this knowing it's for real and yet, it sounds so freakin' bizarre.

Yeah, it's insanity.

[bemildred]

2. Well, I'm used to this sort of blather here in the USA.

Tom Ridge is busy making contingency plans for all sorts of shit
that in fact he has no clue how to deal with, and we get to read
about it every time the administration thinks a distraction would
be a good thing. You know: "WATCH OUT FOR RC MODEL AIRCRAFT AT
NFC FOOTBALL GAMES!!!!!", that kind of thing. The fact is you can't
forsee all the contingencies, so if you want a quiet life it's best
not to be pissing people off.