Thinking Meat

The pile of paperwork on Arafat's desk isn't getting any smaller, so he has decided to appoint a prime minister to help with the day-to-day stuff. I guess that leaves him free to concentrate full-time on planning terror attacks and shmoozing the EU.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said that "President Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have proven their real intention to resume the peace process."

No doubt they are. The "peace process" routine worked pretty well for Arafat & Co. -- they got rich, collected weapons, made fiery speeches with "death to Zionists!" used as punctuation, sent in the occasional bus bomber, the EU gave them lots of money, and Chris Patten would shill for them.