To the Point

Yasser Arafat and Israel's Internal Battles

After the recent suicide bombings, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority of supporting terrorism and retaliated by striking Palestinian installations with fighter jets. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says the two can't make peace by themselves, but US Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni has threatened to go home without significant progress in 48 hours. With the Labor Party poised to vote on whether it should pull out, can Sharon hold his unity government together? We sample Israeli public opinion about their country, its settlements, and the future of its peace movement, with an Israeli pollster, government representatives, and a founding member of Israel's Peace Now movement. Newsmaker: Composite Implicated in Crash of American Flight 587 - The tragic crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York last month has drawn attention to the lightweight composite materials used for critical parts of airplanes. Weakness in the tail of the Airbus A300 may have been a factor in a crash that killed 265 people. Craig Schmitman, editor of AeroSpaceNews.com, elaborates on the complicated formula of FAA regulations, public safety, and profit margin. Reporter's Notebook: Bush Bypassing Congress in Domestic War against Terror - Last week, there were harsh words between Attorney General John Ashcroft and some Senate Democrats over who makes the rules during war. President Bush wants to fight the war on terrorism his own way. Does the Constitution give Congress a role? David Savage, who wrote about that today in the Los Angeles Times, has more on the wartime power struggle between the Commander-in-Chief and the Congress.