After Arafat, wishful thinking!

Now that Arafat is dead, I will proceed to change the name and mission of this webpage. We will now focus on After Arafat, and look at the positive things that are taking place in Occupied Palestine.
The new election, if and when they happen, should signal to the world a new Palestinian order and a new renaissance. The fact that there are many who have filed to run for the office of the president tells a lot about the maturity of the Palestinian community, that Arafat, Allah forgive him, refused to admit and take advantage of.
Of course more than ever, we need a break from the Old Guards, those who were part of Arafat regime. We need new dynamic, intelligent leadership that can smartly negotiate with Israel a final peace settlement. Leadership that can read and write.
While I have nothing against Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, I think that he has done a good job so far, taking over from the now dead Arafat, making sure there is no major breakdown of safety and security. However, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, was a loyal friend and confident for Yasser Arafat and was in his inner circles. What we need now is someone who is not part of Arafat inner circles and who does not owe his political life to Arafat and who is true independent democrat. A leader who earned his position by competence not loyalty.
As I look at the names and backgrounds of the candidate, there is one name that I would like to support and I hope the Palestinian people would support, and that person is Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi, who is the head of the “Palestinian Mubadara”, the Palestinian Initiative, an organization dedicated to the rule of law and one that stood against corruption and incompetence within Arafat regime. Dr. Bargouthi has what it takes to be the right leader at the right time.
In addition to being corrupt free and not tainted with any corruption or scandal, Dr. Mustafa has a vision for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian nation. His emphasis on education and social and economic development is a far cry from Arafat and his Palestinian Authority that emphasized and benefited from supply of cheap and unskilled labor and one that supported and made substantial investment in militias and thugs, diverting very important financial resources to these militias and bandits.
Dr. Mustafa understands the needs for human and social development, if the Palestinians are ever to catch up with Israel. The only way we can challenge the supremacy enjoyed by Israel now is to make all of the investment in people, in their education building the best schools and universities, building the infrastructure that will change our society from job dependent on Israel, as envisioned by Arafat and his buddies to a society that is well qualified to have the best jobs any where in the Middle East with free enterprises that can use the best talents we have. Our asset as Palestinians was and always will be our people. It is too bad that the late Arafat did not even come close to understand this. We do hope and expect Dr. Mustafa to learn from Arafat and learn from his mistakes and never, never allow the Palestinian state to be like all other states in the regions. We must and will insist on leadership that is fully accountable to the people. Good luck to Dr. Mustafa and to all the others, and may the best man or woman win.
Note: this was written after Arafat death… it was a wishful thinking. So far there is no hope for the Palestinians under the PLO, Fatah or Hamas.