Arafat Frozen Out? Yes and No

By Matt Rees

Can Middle East peace be brokered without Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat? For the short term, at least, Israel is trying. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer tells TIME that his country is bypassing Arafat as part of a strategy to strike direct cease-fire deals with local Palestinian power brokers. Last month in the divided city of Hebron, West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub agreed to keep order in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood in return for Israel's pulling out troops and tanks. Last week--just days before Israelis killed a leading Hamas military leader suspected of terrorism--Ben-Eliezer oversaw similar deals in the Palestinian cities of Tulkarem and Kalkilya.

Israel's new tactic comes on the heels of the failed Sept. 26 cease-fire reached by Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Blaming Arafat for ensuing West Bank violence that left nearly 200 dead, Ben-Eliezer says Israel has chosen to work with "dignified leaders" instead. Nevertheless, Palestinian sources say Arafat is not out of the loop. They claim he is secretly okaying every deal and in fact sees an upside: local truces allow for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian neighborhoods without his commitment to a full cease-fire.

--By Matt Rees