Belmont Club takes a look at the living death of Yasser Arafat. It appears that they’re essentially keeping him on a ventilator until they can figure out who gets what – a disgusting end for a disgusting man. His wife Suha wants his money, but apparently no one knows how to access the $2-3 billion he’s stashed away in various Swiss bank accounts. His “advisors” are squabbling over who gets to take power once they pull the plug, and everyone else is worrying where they’re going to dump his carcass once all is said and done.
Sadly, the results of Arafat’s final shuffling from this mortal coil will be a bloody internecine civil war in which the remains of Arafat’s Fatah movement, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and all the other various terrorist groups will end up slaughtering each other in a frantic grasp for power, with thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire.
Yasser Arafat never gave a damn about statehood or Palestine. He only cared about gaining power. He damned the Palestinian people to years of war by his arrogant and idiotic refusal to take the deal presented to him by Ehud Barak at Taba in 2000. Even Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia stated that Arafat’s refusal put blood on his hands. All Arafat did was feed the hate of the _intifada_ , leaving the Palestinian people mired in terrorist squalor so they could be systematically exploited for political gain. Nothing the Israelis have done even remotely compares the treatment of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Arab world.
The only way that there will be peace is for the Palestinians to reject terrorism and appoint a sensible and moderate leader who will work with Israel to end the standoff and create a stable and democratic Palestinian state. Sadly, the few candidates who meet that description would not last long in the terrorist-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Being a Palestinian moderate is to be accused of being a “collaborator” with Israel and invite death.
Perhaps there is a Palestinian leader willing to stand for human rights and freedom for the Palestinian people above anti-Semitic hatred. If there was ever a time for such an individual to emerge, now would be it. However, experience tells us that the results of Arafat’s death will be a bloody struggle in which the forces of extremists like Hamas may well seize power and end any hope of a negotiated settlement in the region.
The only encouraging element of this grim picture is that since George W. Bush led America into an aggressive persuit of International Terrorists, the ensuing sea change has brought a rising awareness of Arafat’s crimes.
The veneer has been swept away and the truth revealed.
Bush has created a new landscape in which terrorists can run but they can’t hide. Characteristically, Arafat the survivor, managed to run away just in time. If you’re an Islamist, Arafat is enjoying eternity with 72 virgins.
If you’re a Westerner he is in a room with a pile of white raisins and will soon be collected by Lucifer to be tortured until the end of time. I happen to be of the latter school of thought.
These current trends are disturbing. But the atmosphere is growing increasingly hostile for Arafat’s successors. Anyone taking his job will soon envy his current state.
Jay-
This is a very powerful commentary that really cuts to the root of the issue at hand. Yasser Arafat has been an absolute demagouge, someone who has monopolized the Palestinian nationalist movement for his own power hungry ends. The Palestinian cause is not an innoble cause on its own merits. There have been IDF abuses, there is an element of Israel which wants a permanent population transfer. However, the sad fact about this conflict is that the mainstream Palestinian movement has become more wedded to violence than the most extreme fringes of Israel. This is a reflection of Arafat’s leadership and his appeasement of the more radical factions that have come to dominate Palestinian society.
Arafat gives the terrorists under his jurisdiction minimal sentences, while Israel has banned its terrorists (such as the Kahanist groups) from office and imprisoned those who commit political violence.
Those who claim there is moral equivilency walk around the world with moral blinders.
Contrary to the common wisdom of the MainStreamMedia©, the Democrat party, P.Diddy, Michael Moore & John Kerry, the youth vote did not turn out in this election, even after much stroking, free underwear, and Paris Hilton threatening them to “Vote or Die” (presumably by some STD?). With the advent of Universal Internet Voting upon us, we here at docweasel.com have come up with a format that will guarantee more youth participation in the 2008 election by using an interface that is familiar and popular with the kids today.
Youth Vote