During the last three years of his life Yaser Arafat was a virtual prisoner in his own home in Ramallah and Sharon continually threatened him with expulsion and often death. It is a measure of the will of Arafat that he survived in those inhuman conditions. Sharon had the tacit support of George Bush, President of the strongest power on earth. It is possible to surmise that President Bush was paying a debt for Sharon's help in winning the Presidency. For after all the Jewish lobby has a special place in the USA. Such is the power of that lobby that no US politician dare to criticise Israel as it rained death and destruction upon the defenseless Palestinian civil population for three long years.

Now that President George Bush was elected convincingly, will he attempt to take a neutral stand vis-à-vis the Palestinians and the Israelis? We may recall that nearly three years ago President Bush launched his two-state proposal -- Palestine and Israel living side by side as independent states. President Bush did not attempt to push his proposal forward, rather allowed his friend Ariel Sharon to carry on his murderous spree. Before George Bush there is the wonderful initiative of his predecessor Bill Clinton, who for once established a completely neutral position between Arafat and the then Israeli Premier Ehud Barak. It is because the two leaders could not rise to the occasion that the strenuous eight-year effort of Clinton ended in failure leading to untold suffering of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

I detect a ray of hope. President Bush has already dispatched to the region the outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell, who must have impressed upon the leaders the urgency of a solution of this half century old dispute. At the fag end of his first term President Bush launched the initiative of "expanded Middle East proposal". The proposal is to cover the area between North Africa and Afghanistan. The proposal appears to be flawed because the dominant issue facing the world is undoubtedly the Middle East and the heart of that dispute is Palestine-Israel. Any initiative without taking this into account is doomed to failure. Former President Bill Clinton had narrowed down the differences and challenged the antagonists to decide on the question of division of Jerusalem. In my humble opinion President Bush does not need to go over the whole ground but resume where his predecessor had left off. It is established that for any solution to be viable it must address the question of Jeusalem.

Ariel Sharon had so imposed upon President Bush that he could not even shake the hand of Yasser Arafat. Now that Arafat has left this world the problem of hand shake has been resolved. Ariel Sharon has long established himself as the inflexible hawk and has been associated with brutal repression of Palestinians. His name is remembered by all for the massacre of Palestinians in Shabra and Shatilla. During the Presidency of Bill Clinton Israel had a dove as Prime Minister -- Ehud Barak. Indeed there is enormous thirst in Israel for Peace. Sharon won the elections defeating Barak on the promise to the electorate that he would guarantee security. His high handed policy has totally failed. It should be possible for the US to find a replacement for Sharon.

Since the passing away of Yasser Arafat we have witnessed that the leadership has remained united and the institutions created by Arafat have remained in place. The possibility of Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) succeeding Chairman Arafat appears bright. But he cannot take the place of Arafat because Arafat emerged as a historic leader thrown up by the Palestinian Revolution.

The question that is on everybody's mind is whether George Bush will be able to change substantially his Middle East policy. Bill Clinton had achieved the remarkable feat of even handedness in his dealing with Arafat and the Israeli leaders. His White House doors were open to Arafat as they were open for Rabin and Barak. President Bush continues to be surrounded by virtually the same team that he had during his just completed Presidency. It would be nothing short of a miracle if he succeeds in opening his White House doors to the Palestinians as well.

Arshad-uz-Zaman is a former Ambassador.