The Intifada

Amir Taheri has an interesting article on Rethinking the Intifada.

As a form of low-intensity warfare, intifada is an instrument in the service of a policy. The problem for the Palestinians is that it is used not as a means to an end but as an end in itself. What Arafat rejected in 2000 was clear. But what exactly it was that he wanted was never clarified. This ambiguity is the inevitable result of contradictions in the strategy that Arafat developed from 1991 onwards.

While the first part of that quote is correct, I think that Arafat knew exactly what he wanted, and clarified it, if only in Arabic. Arafat saw Oslo as one part of the Phased Plan for the destruction of Israel. Getting territory in close proximity to Israel, from where he could launch attacks was always his plan. There was never an intention to make peace.