Propping Up Yasser

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To make matters worse, frustrated aides report zero progress in persuading Arafat to change his habit of managing by dictate. He still refuses to create an accounting system that would satisfy would-be givers of international aid. As a result, of $550 million in assistance pledged for this year, only $50 million has been received. Arafat is also hampered by bitter divisions among his lieutenants. According to two senior Arafat aides in the territories, Farouk Kaddoumi, the foreign minister of the Palestine Liberation Organization, wrote to donor countries from the group's former headquarters in Tunis stating that since their contributions might be misused by the Palestinian authority in Gaza, they should consult him before paying out funds. According to a senior P.L.O. official, Arafat later met with Kaddoumi in Tunis and told him, "I am the head of everything the Palestinians own, and he who is not happy with the way I'm running things can go and drink the sea." Kaddoumi, however, vehemently denies even implying in his letter that the funds might be misused, a refutation supported by another high-ranking P.L.O. official in Cairo who has seen a copy of the missive. Kaddoumi also insists his talk with Arafat was completely cordial. Though disappointed by Arafat's performance, Israeli officials still believe his leadership offers the best chance for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thus this week the Palestinian authority is scheduled to take charge of tourism and social welfare in the West Bank, and health and taxation by the end of the month. Next week negotiations are to resume on moving the Israeli army out of the Arab-populated areas in the West Bank, to be followed by elections for a Palestinian self-rule council. "There is no way back," says an Israeli negotiator. "Nobody can undo the agreements, so the only option is to go forward." The month of November, however, is only half over.