November
15, 2004
Arafat's Legacy: A Palestinian 'Culture of Suicide'
By Mort
Kondracke
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is Exhibit A for the proposition
that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Norway needs to adopt
a provision allowing the prize to be revoked in case of bad behavior.
Not only did Arafat debase the premise for his award; he made
it horrifically difficult for any other Palestinian to be a peacemaker.
He fostered a culture of suicide among his people that may be
impossible to undo.
Arafat received the peace prize in 1994 along with Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for beginning
a Mideast peace process.
But in 2000, after Rabin had been martyred for his efforts and
his successor, Ehud Barak, offered Arafat the most generous peace
plan Palestinians are ever going to get, Arafat balked and launched
a wave of violence that hasn't ceased. History, if it is written
honestly, will record Arafat as a murderous terrorist. He had
the opportunity to be a Moses for his people, but he refused to
allow them to obtain their Promised Land.
He became leader of the Palestinian people through decades of
violence and intrigue - plane hijackings, bloody civil wars in
Jordan and Lebanon, the murder of Israeli athletes in Munich.
From its inception, his organization was dedicated to Israel's
destruction.
Under Rabin, he was allowed into Palestine and permitted to establish
a governing authority. It was rife with corruption and run as
a dictatorship. Though Arafat formally acknowledged Israel's right
to exist, his propaganda was ceaselessly anti-Semitic.
The story is told of an Arab watching Rabin and Arafat together
on television. Asked what struck him, the man replied, "Rabin
wears a plastic watch. Arafat has on a diamond Rolex."
Israel, under Barak, was prepared to give the Palestinians a
state with a piece of Jerusalem to call their capital. They would
have controlled all of Gaza and roughly 95 percent of the West
Bank territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
The United States, Israel, Europe and the rest of the world
had every interest in seeing the new Palestinian state prosper
economically. Palestinians are well-educated and hard-working.
Their country could have blossomed.
But Arafat - possibly because he feared Rabin's fate - refused
the bargain and launched the so-called Second Intifada, waged
with automatic weapons. Barak's government fell, to be succeeded
by one headed by right-winger Ariel Sharon, who will offer Palestinians
a deal, but not Barak's.
Democrats and Europeans condemn President Bush for refusing
to follow up on peace efforts launched by Barak and President
Bill Clinton, and for allowing the Mideast situation to fester.
In fact, Bush understood that there was no peace to be made with
Arafat and that Sharon had to create new realities - including
the isolation of Arafat and military control over the West Bank
- before any new talks could start.
Bush has tried now to engage two Palestinian prime ministers,
but progress was thwarted each time by ... Arafat. And the hatred
spewed toward Jews by Arafat-dominated Palestinian radio and television
stoked continuing violence against Israelis.
Arafat made pronouncements decrying suicide bombings against
Israelis, but he did nothing to contain Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
the extreme Islamist groups that encouraged young people to strap
explosive belts around themselves and blow up markets and pizza
parlors full of civilians.
To contain the violence, Sharon's government is building a security
fence between Israelis and Palestinians. It is largely serving
its purpose - bombings are dramatically reduced - but it cruelly
cuts off Palestinians from Palestinians. However, it could be
moved.
The late Abba Eban, long Israel's most eloquent diplomat, famously
said that "the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to
miss an opportunity."
Now, with Arafat's death, they have yet another opportunity.
They can hold peaceful democratic elections. They can choose a
government that serves its people instead of stealing its money.
They can accept Sharon's latest offer. It's much less than the
Barak offer. Sharon wants to withdraw Israeli control over the
desperate Gaza Strip and territory twice that size in the West
Bank.
The new Palestinian government should take what's offered, govern
it well, contain violence and appeal to the world to insist that
Israel give more. I'm convinced that Israel would - if its people
felt, at last, that Palestinians were actually willing to live
side by side in peace.
President Bush should make it clear that this is a process he
will foster. Indeed, he has done just that. Should he appoint
a special Mideast envoy? Sure - if the Palestinians show signs
of moving in the right direction. It's worth noting that Bush
has appointed envoys before. But they got nowhere.
Now it's up to the Palestinians. There's every reason to fear
that, owing to Arafat's influence, they will miss their opportunity
once again, undergoing a violent transition and possibly seeing
the Islamists gain in influence.
That would be suicide - suicide for the hopes of the Palestinian
people, a choice of death over life, and of continued degradation
over the possibility of prosperity. If that's their choice, it's
their departed leader's doing. Arafat, R.I.P.
