So, Yassir Arafat is now free to leave his beseiged compound in exchange for six militants wanted in the death of an Israeli cabinet minister. President Bush seems to think this is something to be optimistic about. Personally, I’m not so sure.
So many of the Palestinians problems can be traced back to Arafat and his authoritarian rule. I still think the Palestinians would be dramatically better off if Arafat were six feet under. Arafat is another two-bit dictator who ensures the loyalty of his people through the butt of a gun. I have a feeling that he’ll be back to his old tricks soon after the IDF lets the pressure off. I wonder how long it will be before he’s back to funding and equipping terrorist groups.
Of course, this might also have something to do with the fact that the terrorist infrastructure is in shambles. Perhaps they feel that they’ve done a thorough enough job of pacifying the area that Arafat’s been reduced to a paper tiger. The Israelis may well be hoping that he’ll eventually just die and someone more reasonable would take his place. Perhaps Sharon is just bowing to US pressure so that things can cool down for Saddam’s inevitable ass-kicking.
Whatever the reason, the fact that Arafat, that terrorist sugar daddy, is walking around as a free man just bugs the hell out of me.
