November 4, 2004
A MILLION FOR ME, A PEA FOR YOU...:
A Chat With Arafat Over Chicken and Chips: Ramallah dinner was filled with contradictions. (Jane Kinninmont, October 29, 2004, LA Times)
As the meal began, he took some small pieces of sweet corn and broccoli from his own plate and handed them to each guest. An aide said, "You see — he shares with the people."It was a bizarre gesture, oddly touching. Still, his people might be more impressed if their president would help them recover the millions of dollars that have gone missing from Palestinian Authority funds over the years, and much of which is rumored to be in the hands of his estranged wife in Paris.
Arafat looked animated and cheerful despite his confinement. He showed me some of his badges, souvenirs of previous visitors: flags, university logos, trademarks of grass-roots peace movements, a menorah, a picture of the Virgin Mary. Stuck to his military jacket, they created the effect of some piece of vintage punk memorabilia. And, of course, it was all topped with his trademark kaffiyeh, apparently worn in the shape of a map of historical Palestine.
It is hard to reconcile the large-scale legends of Arafat's life with the small man who stood in front of me. This man had done more than anyone else to create Palestinian nationalism yet is widely blamed for undermining the prospect of a Palestinian state. He is hated by his people for corruption and compromise and simultaneously loved by them as an icon of revolution and leadership.
Arafat fights to retain personal control over the Palestinian Authority but is unable to visit most of the territory he supposedly rules. For exercise, he said, he walks around the table or up and down the stairs.
At one point I asked: Looking back on his decades of leadership, is there anything he would have done differently? Immediately, he began: "I regret that we lost the opportunity at Camp David." I wondered if he was about to admit to some previously unacknowledged error. Of course not. Instead, he launched into a lengthy criticism of the Israeli peace offer made in 2000.
Other people at the table picked up on the question, and it became something of a game: "Do you have any regrets, Mr. President?" Arafat said: "For your information, we accepted the road map in accordance with U.N. Resolution 1515." Someone else tried the same question in Arabic. Arafat said: "Do not forget that fanatical Jews killed my partner, Yitzhak Rabin." (Israeli Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995 after he signed the Oslo peace accord with Arafat.)
Arafat has a capacity for denial that might be astounding if it wasn't so tragically common in this conflict. The strangest example is when he was asked about the Qassam missiles (homemade rockets developed by Hamas) used by some Palestinian militants, which the Israeli government says provoked its latest strikes in Gaza. Arafat simply said: They have never hurt anyone. But what about the two Israeli toddlers who were killed by Qassams in September? "They were not killed by the rockets," he said. "They merely died from the shock."
Similarly, when Arafat dies it won't be the buggery that killed him but heart failure. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2004 6:12 PM
Arafat has survived because of Cold War politics - not through his own abilities. He shoudl have been dead in Lebanon in 1982, but we saved his bacon to play footsie with the politics. Same thing with every Arab-Israeli war. If not for our diplomacy with the Soviets, Israel would have forced a peace treaty by rolling their tanks into Damascus and Cairo. Just let him die and let the world see the hollowness of his legacy.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at November 4, 2004 6:53 PMHis heart failed at least 60 years ago, yet he stayed alive to kill some more. AIDS finished him off, and only took a few decades.
Posted by: pj at November 4, 2004 7:30 PMAnd wait until the Palestinians find out they have been completely cut out of the inheritance.
Posted by: capt mike at November 4, 2004 7:36 PMChris:
That's a very insightful point. The other two "insoluble" problems of twenty years ago ended almost as soon as the Cold War did--South Africa and Northern Ireland--and Palestine came close, but arafat walked away from the deal. Israel should have whacked him and declared a state then.
Posted by: oj at November 4, 2004 7:37 PMThe only reason the so-called Palestinians haven't been completely squashed is the dependence of American politicos on Saudi money.
Posted by: Bart at November 4, 2004 10:01 PMThe Palestinians have acted as a cushion or pressure valve for problems in the Middle East for a long time. That is their history. They are treated as fodder by all. But that usefulness is past.
Now they will probably sink even lower, unless there is a Palestinian Washington out there. However, such a leader will not need to oppose Israel, but the rest of the Arab dictatorships that basically enslave the Palestinian people (along with the European weasels).
Posted by: jim hamlen at November 4, 2004 10:06 PMBart,
So sayeth Michael Moore. From you, however, we expect a little more in the way of facts to back up your claim.
For example, name retired high ranking State Dept. officials who are now on the payroll of Saudi-financed "think tanks".
Just because there are likely plenty of reasons to support your contention doesn't mean we wouldn't like to hear them.
Posted by: Eugene S. at November 4, 2004 10:26 PMEvery time you go through airport security, you can thank Arafat for inventing airliner hijacking for terror in the 1960's.
Another little-known fact: his political mentor was the Mufti of Jerusalem, one of Hitler's major Arab pals.
Posted by: PapayaSF at November 4, 2004 10:37 PMEugene:
Bart's belief that W is run by the Sa'uds is risible, but for a good look at how State truckles to them, try The Arabists by Robert Kaplan.
Posted by: oj at November 4, 2004 11:09 PMEugene: Pipes has names and dates.
"Still, his people might be more impressed if their president would help them recover the millions of dollars that have gone missing from Palestinian Authority funds over the years, and much of which is rumored to be in the hands of his estranged wife in Paris."
Off by a factor of 1,000
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 5, 2004 3:04 AMTwo words: Carlyle Group.
Posted by: Bart at November 5, 2004 6:44 AMArafat has a capacity for denial that might be astounding if it wasn't so tragically common in this conflict.
Otherwise known as extreme psychosis. But hey, we all do it....
On the other hand, the part about the sweet corn and broccoli was extremely touching. Surely an indication of the man's empathy and extreme care for those around him.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at November 5, 2004 7:37 AMEugene: Diplomats are good men we send to Saudi Arabia to lie for their hosts. There are a stream of former ambassadors to SA who now make a good living apologizing for the Saudi's.
Posted by: David Cohen at November 5, 2004 9:06 AMBig deal. Since the age of two I've always been more than willing to share my broccoli and corn.
Posted by: Peter B at November 5, 2004 1:06 PM