The New Palestinians: The Emerging Generation of Leaders

A more moderate, pragmatic, highly educated and genuinely representative leadership has emerged out of the intifada and is, as the authors show, in a legitimate position to negotiate on behalf of the 1.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians profiled here--some of whom, like Hanan Ashrawi, came into the public eye just last year during the Madrid peace conference--are regarded as probable leaders of the yet-unborn nation of Palestine. The Wallachs ( Arafat ) carefully define the varying positions of these 12 leaders toward Yasser Arafat, the father of Palestinian nationalism, and toward Israel. Included are the views of the mainstream Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the People's Party (formerly the Communist Party of Palestine), the Islamic Resistance Movement and the extremist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In these sympathetic, well-developed portraits, two major themes dominate: the Palestinians' perception of themselves as victims of hatred, discrimination and oppression, and the willingness of most of the emerging leaders to accept the existence of the Jewish state--as long as they are given the opportunity to achieve their own independence and statehood. (Dec.)