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Truth about the "poor" Arafat
Amidst the media outcry about the "poor chairman Arafat, without electricity, water, phone, and a nuclear bomb" this article is aimed at telling the actual truth...
ON July 1, 1994, Yasser Arafat entered Gaza to establish the Palestinian Autonomous Region - betwixt-and-between creature of the Oslo peace process that was supposed to become, under the guiding light of the Oslo process, the physical base of another ambivalent notion, the Palestinian National Authority. I went as a reporter to Gaza a few hours before Arafat arrived and stayed there about five weeks, observing the early days of life and governance under the Palestinian Authority.
Arafat's entry into Gaza was an object lesson: a purposely uncaring display of brute power. He arrived from the Sinai in a long caravan of Chevrolet Blazers and Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, 70 or 80 cars packed to the rooflines with men with guns.
The caravan roared up the thronged roads and down the mobbed streets, with the overfed, leather-jacketed, sunglassed thugs of Arafat's bodyguard detail all the time screaming and shooting off their Kalashnikovs to make their beloved people scurry out of their beloved leader's way.
This was the whole of the Palestinian Authority from the beginning, an ugly little cartoon of Middle East despotism, a tinpot's tinpot of a regime.
There was never any pretense of democracy, of rule of law, of a free press, of a working system of taxes or courts or hospitals. There was never any real government. No one ever bothered to build an economy or create jobs or even pick up the trash or pave the streets.
There were only security forces - many, many of these - and villas by the sea for Arafat's cronies and millions of dollars in foreign aid that seemed to always turn up missing, and prisons and propaganda. And in the middle of it all: "President" Arafat sitting in a room - surrounded by waiting sycophants and toadies and respectful ladies and gentlemen of the press - and complaining.
That summer, I saw only three serious efforts at establishing functioning government: the imprisoning of free-speakers and potential democrats, which began immediately; the likewise prompt establishment of daily anti-Israel broadcasts and a British-run program to train handpicked members of Arafat's Fatah group in riot control.
Of course, there was never any real peace. Arafat had promised to disarm Hamas, Hezbollah and his own Fatah gunmen. There is no evidence he ever seriously tried. The terrorists resumed lethal operations against Israel within a month of Arafat's arrival.
Between the day Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the deal that was to buy peace for Israel, and the day Arafat and Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize for that accord, Palestinian terrorists killed 90 Israelis. In five years after Oslo, Palestinians killed more Israelis than in 15 years preceding the accord.
Meanwhile, Arafat's government has exploited Israel's permission to establish a police force to instead build a guerrilla army. Several months ago, some of Arafat's most senior lieutenants were identified as the architects of an attempt to import an entire shipload of rockets, arms and high explosives into Gaza. In occupying Palestinian Authority offices this week in Ramallah, Israel plausibly claims to have discovered two container-loads of prohibited SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles and more than 200 LAW anti-tank missiles.
There is much that can be conceded in the issue of Israel and the Palestinians: The Palestinians have, in their lost land, a great and real grievance; as a moral and practical matter, Israel should admit this, and should be willing to trade land for peace with its neighbors.
But this is precisely the point: Israel did concede these questions. It has been nearly two years since Israel offered the Palestinians nearly all of the territories occupied in 1967.
Arafat's response has redundantly proved his harshest critics right.
There was never any honest intent on the Palestinian part for peaceful coexistence with Israel, any more than there was ever any honest intent to establish a government in Gaza that would function toward that end and toward the creation of a decent life for the Palestinian people. What the Palestinians seek - what Arafat has encouraged them to seek - is, as is now beyond dispute, the defeat and surrender of Israel.
Arafat and the Palestinians decided to gamble the peace process on a bet for bigger gains through war. They bet - are betting still - that Israel, pushed beyond endurance by an unprecedented level of civilian deaths, would surrender to, in essence, the destruction of the Israeli state. This is an insane bet. It will end in the destruction of the experiment Arafat subverted from the very first day.
Arafat's entry into Gaza was an object lesson: a purposely uncaring display of brute power. He arrived from the Sinai in a long caravan of Chevrolet Blazers and Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, 70 or 80 cars packed to the rooflines with men with guns.
The caravan roared up the thronged roads and down the mobbed streets, with the overfed, leather-jacketed, sunglassed thugs of Arafat's bodyguard detail all the time screaming and shooting off their Kalashnikovs to make their beloved people scurry out of their beloved leader's way.
This was the whole of the Palestinian Authority from the beginning, an ugly little cartoon of Middle East despotism, a tinpot's tinpot of a regime.
There was never any pretense of democracy, of rule of law, of a free press, of a working system of taxes or courts or hospitals. There was never any real government. No one ever bothered to build an economy or create jobs or even pick up the trash or pave the streets.
There were only security forces - many, many of these - and villas by the sea for Arafat's cronies and millions of dollars in foreign aid that seemed to always turn up missing, and prisons and propaganda. And in the middle of it all: "President" Arafat sitting in a room - surrounded by waiting sycophants and toadies and respectful ladies and gentlemen of the press - and complaining.
That summer, I saw only three serious efforts at establishing functioning government: the imprisoning of free-speakers and potential democrats, which began immediately; the likewise prompt establishment of daily anti-Israel broadcasts and a British-run program to train handpicked members of Arafat's Fatah group in riot control.
Of course, there was never any real peace. Arafat had promised to disarm Hamas, Hezbollah and his own Fatah gunmen. There is no evidence he ever seriously tried. The terrorists resumed lethal operations against Israel within a month of Arafat's arrival.
Between the day Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the deal that was to buy peace for Israel, and the day Arafat and Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize for that accord, Palestinian terrorists killed 90 Israelis. In five years after Oslo, Palestinians killed more Israelis than in 15 years preceding the accord.
Meanwhile, Arafat's government has exploited Israel's permission to establish a police force to instead build a guerrilla army. Several months ago, some of Arafat's most senior lieutenants were identified as the architects of an attempt to import an entire shipload of rockets, arms and high explosives into Gaza. In occupying Palestinian Authority offices this week in Ramallah, Israel plausibly claims to have discovered two container-loads of prohibited SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles and more than 200 LAW anti-tank missiles.
There is much that can be conceded in the issue of Israel and the Palestinians: The Palestinians have, in their lost land, a great and real grievance; as a moral and practical matter, Israel should admit this, and should be willing to trade land for peace with its neighbors.
But this is precisely the point: Israel did concede these questions. It has been nearly two years since Israel offered the Palestinians nearly all of the territories occupied in 1967.
Arafat's response has redundantly proved his harshest critics right.
There was never any honest intent on the Palestinian part for peaceful coexistence with Israel, any more than there was ever any honest intent to establish a government in Gaza that would function toward that end and toward the creation of a decent life for the Palestinian people. What the Palestinians seek - what Arafat has encouraged them to seek - is, as is now beyond dispute, the defeat and surrender of Israel.
Arafat and the Palestinians decided to gamble the peace process on a bet for bigger gains through war. They bet - are betting still - that Israel, pushed beyond endurance by an unprecedented level of civilian deaths, would surrender to, in essence, the destruction of the Israeli state. This is an insane bet. It will end in the destruction of the experiment Arafat subverted from the very first day.
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That offer was a joke that only a complete idiot would have accepted. Go the Guardian web site and you will get the story on this phony Jewish offer that has been propagated by the mainstream media.
The article is called "The brilliant offer Israeli never made."
We can all agree Arafat is a failed leader -- but what exactly is the offer you refer to?
These offers of territories are always problematic – how about an island surrounded by sharks? How can you have a "territory" without water control, without land usage rights, and with no ability to enter and exit your area? Even Arafat cannot freely come and go with Israeli approval. Do you REALLY think that Israel would offer the Palestinians anything of substance? Oslo gave the Palestinians segregated enclaves and more settlements. Israeli "offers", when accepted, are delayed, prohibited, canceled, forgotten or ignored. Remember who has the power here -- don't be fooled by the offer. If Israel offers something there is a reason they are offering it – and it’s not for peace – except another piece of the Palestinian spirit.
Everyone agress that Arafat is a problem -- but you ought to always remember that Israel is the bigger problem. People have to realize that they are the aggressors. We are talking about basic human rights here. To be honest, you seem like an apologist for Israel, no offense, but that's how it sounds.
Sixteen-year-old Orah stood in the back of the bus talking to her good friend Shoshi Ben Yeshai. Another friend standing in the middle of the bus called to her. She had something to tell her. Orah made her way forward through the crowded aisle.
At the French Hill intersection the bus stopped for a red light. Suddenly Orah heard gunshots. She looked out the window and saw an Arab man firing an automatic rifle into the back half of the bus. Instantly the bus was full of shattered glass, blood, and screaming.Orah and the other passengers dove for the floor, body piling atop body in the packed bus.
Orah and the other passengers dove for the floor, body piling atop body in the packed bus. Sure she was going to die, Orah uttered the Shema, the profession of faith which observant Jews recite twice every day and at the moment of death. Suddenly she was seized with fear, not of death itself, but of what comes after death. She realized she would have to stand before the heavenly tribunal and account for her life. There were so many things she would have done differently. Now it was too late.
A chorus of Shema Yisrael rose from all directions, punctuated by the rapid fire of the machine gun. A non-religious girl, screaming hysterically, fell on top of Orah. "Say Shema Yisrael," Orah and her friend pleaded with the girl. She said the words, but her hysteria did not abate.
Orah could hear people around her reciting verses of Psalms. She realized that the sound of shots had ended. Two soldiers stationed on the other side of the intersection had killed the terrorist.
Within a couple minutes the doors opened and police were pulling passengers off the bus, trying desperately to reach the wounded and dead. Orah slowly struggled to her feet. She was alive, unhurt except for a few scratches. She felt like she had been given life anew. She would do things differently this time.
Only later did she discover that her good friend Shoshi had been murdered by the terrorist, who had also killed 14-year-old Meni Regev and wounded 45 people. As of this writing, ten of Orah's schoolmates are still hospitalized, one of them in serious condition: 14-year-old Sharona Rivka (bat Rina Yehudit for those who want to pray for her).
That night Orah and those of her classmates not in the hospital attended Shoshi's funeral. One of their teachers eulogized Shoshi as the "epitome of smiles, good cheer, and desire to help." Orah, standing by her friend's grave, resolved to pattern her life after Shoshi, who had excelled in love for the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. Shoshi, who narrowly escaped two terrorist attacks in the last year, had several times told her friends, during their endless discussions of the war in Israel, that when she died, she hoped it would be "al kiddush Hashem," for the sanctification of God's name.When they passed the intersection, she and her friends held hands and wept.
"Shoshi was the type of person who would have volunteered to die instead of her friends," Orah avers.
The next morning Orah boarded the #25 bus and went to school. When they passed the French Hill intersection, she and her friends held hands and wept. At the morning prayer service, Orah prayed with greater intention than she ever had in her life.
"Although we all cry a lot," Orah declares, "I feel I have been given a big gift. Now I can better appreciate what I have."
In coping with both loss and fear (every sudden noise makes her jump), Orah is bolstered by her religious faith and by the support of those who love her.
Although Orah was born in Israel, both her parents made aliyah from America. When asked if, in the aftermath of the attack, she ever fantasizes about moving to a safer place like the United States, Orah laughs, "What? After the World Trade Center? Are you serious?"
Orah's classmate Gila, who was also on the attacked bus, says that while they all continue to take the #25 bus, no one wants to go on the bus alone. "We try to be together in as big groups as possible."
"Why is that?" I ask, wondering what even a dozen teenage schoolgirls can do to protect themselves from an armed Arab terrorist.
"We can hold each other and talk to each other," Gila explains.
SECOND HAND
I hang up the phone from talking with Gila and Orah, and go into my living room, where my 7-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter are working on puzzles. Trying to walk the tightrope between scaring them and preparing them, I ask offhandedly, "If you ever hear a bomb or gunshots, what do you do?"
My daughter answers: "Get down."
"Right. And then what do you do?"
My daughter gropes for an answer. Finally she comes up with: "Stay down."
"And then what do you do?" I persist.
My son jumps up proudly with the answer: "Say Shema."
"That's right." This is the second time this year we have discussed how a Jew should die with Shema on his lips, conscious of God with his last breath. The first time was after the Sbarro's bombing, where five members of one family died calling out the Shema. "And God willing," I add, "you'll be fine, and can go about with your life."
I retreat from the living room, enough said. But I keep feeling: "Something is wrong with this picture."What am I doing, a mother in Israel in the 21st century, teaching my children how to face death at the hands of Jew-haters?
What am I doing, a mother in Israel in the 21st century, teaching my children how to face death at the hands of Jew-haters? That gruesome task was appropriate for Jewish mothers in the Rhineland during the Crusades, in Poland during the Cossack massacres, in Russia during the pogroms, all over Europe during the Holocaust. But the Zionist dream was supposed to end all that!
Herzl's whole goal was to establish a Jewish homeland as a refuge from anti-semitism, where Jewish children would be safe from those who hate them. Yet this year we have seen children maimed when their school bus was blown up, a baby deliberately shot to death in her mother's arms, another baby whose head was crushed in a rock-throwing attack, numerous youngsters killed in drive-by shootings, a disco bombing which murdered 20 teenagers, and and two 14-year-old hikers murdered so brutally that their bodies were almost unidentifiable.
While I agree with the many anguished voices who are demanding that the Israeli government do more to protect its citizens, in my gut I know that neither the government nor the army has the power to save us. After all, two soldiers were permanently posted at the French Hill junction, but in the two minutes it took them to cross the busy intersection, how much carnage was wrought! Nor can we hermetically seal all the areas where Arabs live. I have Arabs living right next door to me!
There is no political solution.
There is no military solution.
There is only a spiritual solution. Tshuva. Changing. Loving our fellow Jew. Helping our fellow Jew.
In the end, Orah and Gila got it right.