politically incorrect but factually accurate
My favorite picture of Arafat is one with his hands on the shoulders of a young boy with bombs strapped to his body. Arafat�s whispering in his ear, �Go die for your country.� I googled all over for that picture, I could not find it.
Time after time Israel offered Arafat everything that he wanted for his people, he declined it each time. In the Western Press, he talked about a desire for peace, a homeland for his people. In the Arab Press, he talked of wanting every Israeli dead and the State of Israel destroyed.
Arafat was a terrorist. He killed children. He blew up schools. Until the day he died, he was in control of the militant wing of the PLO. He danced with his people in the streets on September 11, 2001, celebrating the deaths of thousands of Americans.
Arafat was a thief. Last year Forbes magazine set his personal net worth at 300 Million US Dollars. This wealth came from money given by others for the Palestinian people. Suha Arafat and her luxurious Parisian lifestyle do not the Palestinian people make.
Arafat was a coward. I could strap bombs onto my students, put them on buses, and kill civilian loosely associated with political causes that I disagree with and no one would give me a Peace Prize when I crossed my fingers and said, Dudes, seriously now, I am going to cut it out! No, really, I mean it.
Despite his horrible past, he could have done great things for his people. Benyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak�s governments fell after failing to make peace with Arafat � who had no intention of making peace. You have to look hard for bigger, credible Israeli names to make peace with the Palestinians than Barak or Netanyahu. His extremism in the face of people willing to give him EVERYTHING he wanted led us to Ariel �under the sea� Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel.
The Israeli government has not treated the Palestinians well. They have not always been human or decent, but for eight years the Israelis made their best effort to foster peace and unity between the two groups. If it were not for Arafat�s obstruction there would be a Palestinian State today.
Hopefully, with him dead and gone the peace process can move forward. I will leave you with quotes that summarize what I think:
Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said: "Arafat missed the opportunity to have peace in the Middle East and a Palestinian state and chose terror as a weapon, not only against Israel but against Western civilization.
"He was the godfather of al Qaeda and of bin Laden. And perhaps we now have a new opportunity to start talks with Palestinians who genuinely want to have peace."
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "The tragedy was that Arafat, who had the power and prestige to move his people to peace, instead moved them and us into a terrible war of terror that cost thousands of lives, Israelis and Palestinians alike.
"This is the man who also pioneered international terrorism, the art of hijacking planes, ships, kidnapping and seizing of hostages and you name it. Which gave birth, of course, to other terrorist groups who emulated him, including al Qaeda."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Arafat would be remembered as a leader who failed to grasp an opportunity for peace in the Middle East.
Speaking on radio before official news of Arafat's death, Howard said history would judge him harshly for not having seized the opportunity in 2000 to embrace the offer made by then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak.
