November 10, 2004
A GREAT DAY IN PALESTINE:
Veteran leader Yasser Arafat dies (BBC, 11/11/04)
The veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has died in a French hospital, nearly two weeks after being transferred from the West Bank.Mr Arafat, 75, dominated Palestinian politics for 40 years and there is no clear line of succession.
But Palestinian leaders have agreed a plan to prevent a power struggle and chaos in the volatile Gaza Strip.
Analysts believe his death could provide an opportunity to restart the Middle East peace process.
There will be elections and a recognized Palestinian State by the end of 2005. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 10, 2004 11:33 PM
Time to revive the old song a guy on Lucianne.com came up with a few months ago, when similar stories were going around (Please sing to "Frosty the Snowman"):
"Yasser, the dead man,
You have told your final lie.
With the soul of a rat and a rag for a hat,
You can kiss your ass goodbye.
Yasser, the dead man,
You have killed your final Jew.
The facade is down, you butchering clown,
There's a place in Hell for you!"
Trying...hard...not...to...speak...ill...of...the...dead...
Posted by: MB at November 11, 2004 12:17 AM"Palestinian politics." Hmm.
Might that be kind of like "Soviet politics"? "Chinese politics?" How 'bout "Cuban politics" or "North Korean politics"? Let's see, "Saudi politics"? "Syrian politics?" What about "Egyptian politics"?
But on a more serious level, if one can say it, it must therefore exist. (And if one says it a thousand times, it must surely be so.)
Posted by: Barry Meislin at November 11, 2004 2:01 AMAnybody other than me remember a stand-up comic named Moms Mabley? One of her signature riffs was a series of one-liner put-downs of her deceased husband. I remember her appearing on Dick Cavett or some such show once, and there was an exchange kind of like this:
MOMS: [one-liner trashing the dead guy]
CAVETT: But, Moms, don't you have anything good to say about the dead?
MOMS: He's dead. That's good.
Let that be Arafat's epitaph.
Posted by: Mike Morley at November 11, 2004 6:35 AMI'm reminded of Jack Nicholson's line as the Joker:
"You're a viscious b*****d, and I'm glad you're dead."
Posted by: Brandon at November 11, 2004 8:49 AMBette Davis on the death of Joan Crawford: "I was raised to speak only good of the dead. Joan Crawford is dead. Good."
Posted by: George at November 11, 2004 11:13 AMIs it too much to hope that a lot of other old thugs (Castro) follow quickly?
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at November 11, 2004 12:11 PM>There will be elections and a recognized
>Palestinian State by the end of 2005.
After a Palestinian Civil War until there's only one faction left standing.
The King is Dead, and there is no clear successor. That usually means one thing, with dagger, poison, and martyrdom bomb belts.
(Wonder who gets to marry that screaming bitch in Paris to cement his claim to succession and the Palestinian treasury?)
Posted by: Ken at November 11, 2004 12:53 PMBarghouti will take over as soon as Sharon releases him.
Posted by: oj at November 11, 2004 1:01 PMHeadline in my local rag this morning: "Arafat dies, his dream still unrealized."
Thus passes the Palestinian Martin Luther King, but those pesky Jews, the sons of pigs and monkeys, remain undriven into the sea.
Posted by: Random Lawyer at November 11, 2004 2:45 PMHow about a contest picking the date for Palestinian elections?
Posted by: Matt C at November 11, 2004 3:57 PMSo, is Barghouti going to be "our SOB"?
And how will the Palestinians react when Hezbollah meets Allah (at the hands of the US military)?
Posted by: jim hamlen at November 14, 2004 12:36 AM