Envoy: Palestinian Authority May Collapse

So how will this affect the UN talks on Israel's security wall?

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Mideast envoy on Tuesday said the Palestinian Authority has made no progress toward combating terror attacks against Israel and is "in real danger of collapse."[...]

Roed-Larsen painted a grim picture of lawlessness in the Palestinian Authority, its failure to institute critical reforms, and he blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

He lamented that there was "no sign" of the bold leadership needed to tackle Palestinian reform and move toward peace.

"The Palestinian Authority, despite consistent promises by its leadership, has made no progress on its core obligation to take immediate action on the ground to end violence and combat terror, and to reform and reorganize the Palestinian Authority," he said.

The new, longer range and more deadly rocket being developed by the Paleistinians and the discovery of Palestinian child terrorist camps certainly back up Larsen's report.

And just recenly Mediators Tell Palestinians to Reform or Lose Aid

In another sign of growing pressure for change on besieged leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), results from grassroots elections for his Fatah (news - web sites) movement in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) showed reformers sweeping the field, Fatah officials said.

Sapped by years of corruption and disorder as well as Israeli raids, Arafat's Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) needs foreign help to fill a power vacuum when Israel quits the Gaza Strip next year or if it hopes to revive peace talks with the Jewish state.

But envoys from the United States, United Nations (news - web sites) and European Union (news - web sites) and Russia told Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie that the world had run out of patience with Arafat's "empty promises" of reform.

How much longer can Arafat survive?
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