VOL. XLV

No 20

20 May 2002

The Political Scene

At the last moment, Israel decided not to invade Gaza after all, while simultaneously Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria met to reaffirm their sinceredetermination to achieve peace. It might therefore be thought that progresshad been made towards a resumption of negotiations, but in fact the agendas ofthe two sides are so different as to appear irreconcilable. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat is bending under US and Arab pressure forreform of the...