what kind of war will follow?

In the Wake of Abbas's Departure, More Violence Expected

While the picture is looking pretty grim, there is at least one glimmer in the muck...

Columnist Ahmad al-Rubii, writing in the London-based Arab newspaper, Al-Sharq al-Awsat says that the Arafat-Abbas power struggle shows most Palestinian leaders are "behind the times" and their policies are old-fashioned and obsolete. "And now they have pushed the Palestinian conflict to the low of interpersonal squabbling."

In a translation by Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper, al-Rubbi said that "Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who are considered an alternative to Arafat's leadership, have succeeded in hijacking the popular intifada that used to represent all the Palestinians."

The problem with the more militant groups, Rubbi argues, is that "they lack a dynamic mentality and have opted for military confrontation. As a result, Palestinians feel more isolated than ever as they continue to mourn the daily deaths of their brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. The general Palestinian public is like a passenger on board of a hijacked plane where at the end of the day, unfortunately, Israel will emerge as the only victor."

Surely Rubbi is not the only arab out there that can see the situation clearly...how long will it take before the general palestinian public overcomes the hijackers and throws them out of the plane???