Quote:
Originally Posted by Joby  I have a problem with this perception of Arafat. It always seemed to me that he loved being on top of the PLO more than Palestine itslef, and that the only thing worse than the Israelis taking the homeland would be its return without him in charge.
I understand why Palestinians love him, my govt professor (a pal/lebanese immigrant) adored him. She talked about how he was a "Palestinian Symbol" and how him being greeted by heads-of-state sorta kinda made up for the lack of a soccer team. But seriously, he talked smack then ran away. Compare his defense of Palestinian immigrants from Israel in the 1980s to that of Hezbullah, and you can see my point. |
Arafat left lebanon under agreement brokered by the international community that no harm would befall the palestinian refugees in lebanon. Upon his exit, Israel expanded it's war in lebanon and completely captured half of it, it's troops being checked in the north by the syrians. Arafat leaves, The phalange, armed allied trained and guided by Sharon enter sabra and shatilla and rape, pillage and murder for two days and two nights as the israeli army surrounds the camps and illuminates the night sky so the phalange murderers can continue the slaughter.
So the palestinians in lebanon thought, if arafat was here, he would have saved us. Ofcourse arafat continued his struggle from africa, far from palestine and denounced the crimes and ranted how he had been tricked, complained about the broken promises, and assured the broken palestinian diaspora that his men would have protected them. Immense pressure pushed him out of lebanon, where he once ruled beirut, just as immense pressure pushed him out of Jordan. No one wants to reap the wrath of the Israeli Airforce for the palestinian struggle.
During the battle of Karamah in Jordan, every palestinian faction fled while arafat stayed and fought with his men. They, along with the Jordanian army suffered staggering casualties but held their ground. To imply that arafat is a coward would contradict this historic fact.
He practically signed away all rights to historic palestine during oslo. He recognized Israel, accepted the lack of an explicit ban on settlement construction and failed to brig us statehood. Barak and Nitenyahoo played him. When arafat woke up to his weak diplomatic caution, it was too late, Jerusalem had been geographically torn from the west bank, Israel was at it's strongest, and he was policing the streets of a few palestinian cities on behalf of Israel.
Check the following article:
In a Ruined Country
I strongly disagree with many things in it, and the author easily adds pages of unsubstantiated rumors, painting an unreasonable picture of Arafat...but the article still has some interesting details, and you would enjoy reading it I am sure...