WHEN YASIR ARAFAT SHOOK HANDS with Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in September 1993, he made two main promises: to include in his public statements that the PLO “encourages and calls upon” Palestinians to take part in “rejecting violence and terrorism”; and to “achieve coexistence” with Israel — implying an acceptance of the Jewish state as a permanent fact of life.

Israelis vociferously disagree on how well he has kept those promises. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres declares Arafat to be “the one and only Palestinian leader with whom Israel can and should negotiate.” A Likud party statement calls Arafat someone “who continues the Nazi way.” Who’s right? Has Arafat fulfilled his obligations or not?