Flurry Precedes Mideast Meeting in New York
The Israeli-Palestinian crisis caused a flurry of diplomatic maneuvering today on the eve of a high-level meeting to take place in New York on Tuesday at the request of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

The gathering known as the Quartet — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — faces the central issue of the future of Yasir Arafat, long the embodiment of Palestinian aspirations, who President Bush and his advisers now say cannot lead any future Palestinian state.

"Sidelining Arafat will be a big question we all regret," Mr. Mubarak said. "The man, with his experience and role, has the loyalty of Palestinians inside and abroad."

It is a delicate issue. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel regards Mr. Arafat as the central terrorist mastermind, and his Palestinian Authority has been losing credibility among Palestinians for corruption, inefficiency and a failure to stand up to Israeli military incursions.

But though he sits, increasingly isolated, in the ruins of his Ramallah headquarters, with Israeli tanks vetting visitors in the parking lot, foreign orders alone are insufficient reason for Arabs to abandon him, even among leaders like Mr. Mubarak, who have privately found him as infuriating as the Americans do.

Paradoxically, Mr. Bush's decree is now Mr. Arafat's main strength.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/16/international/middleeast/16MIDE.html