December 17, 2001

Goodbye Yasser, don't come back

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

There's something particularly gratifying about having one's lonely opinions vindicated, and that's the way I feel after the news of the last week or so regarding Palestinian Yasser Arafat.

For more than two decades, the leader of the Palestinians has been playing both ends against the middle and getting away with it. His public persona was carefully cultivated as the leader of "freedom fighters" seeking a home in Israel, an image the media around the world have swallowed hook, line and sinker.

While behind the scenes, the face seen only by his fellow Islamic militants has consistently urged the annihilation of every single man, woman and child in the nation of Israel.

Anti-semitism is not popularly received by the media, at least since the Holocaust of World War II, but somehow Arafat has managed to get away with the most virulent anti-semitic stance on the planet while retaining credibility on the world scene.

Members of Arafat's own Fatah political group demonstrated in the streets over the weekend, one of which was photographed by the Associated Press. This demonstrator wore a mask and brandished a machine gun with belts of live ammo.

Only a lonely few writers dared state the facts about Arafat, and those few seldom got published.

Until now. The master of maintaining two faces finally overplayed his hand when retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni arrived for the most recent attempt by an envoy from the U.S. to bring peace to the Middle East, a thankless job at the least.

Zinni was greeted by a new wave of suicide attacks by the Palestinian militants in Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Israeli civilians, prompting the Israeli military to respond in defense.

And though Arafat publicly condemned the suicide bombers, his unseen other side was privately urging the attackers on.

An emergency trip to Washington to meet with President Bush by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proved to be the turning point.

Sharon reportedly shared intelligence data with Bush, which apparently was convincing enough that the President finally announced that Israel has a right to defend itself.

That may not sound like a very significant statement, but until this new word by Bush, the American foreign policy stance toward Israel for virtually all of Arafat's reign has been to attempt to stop Israel from responding to Palestinian attacks.

During the administrations of four presidents, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush the first, and eight years of Bill Clinton, that was the official line: Palestinians attack, and Israelis are urged "not to perpetuate the cycle of violence."

Of course, the Israelis have mostly ignored that advice from the U.S., responding whenever necessary to protect themselves.

But Clinton did succeed in leaving a legacy in the Middle East, though it wasn't the Nobel Peace Prize he so eagerly sought.

Clinton's legacy is the billions of dollars of aid his administration delivered to the Palestinians during his eight years of the "peace process." And guess what Arafat did with all those billions from Clinton? No one knows for sure, as much of it simply disappeared -- no doubt into Arafat's own bank account.

But a goodly portion of Clinton's billions went to buy weapons for the Palestinian "police" and "security forces."

Members of Arafat's own Fatah political group demonstrated in the streets over the weekend, one of which was photographed by the Associated Press. This demonstrator wore a mask and brandished a machine gun with belts of live ammo.

Have you ever seen a political demonstrator with a machine gun? Or how about regular police units whose armaments include automatic assault rifles, machine guns and mortars? If any police force in the U.S. tried to arm itself like that, the public outcry would quickly rise to call them Nazis, Storm Troopers or worse.

But that's exactly how Palestinian "police" and "security forces" and "demonstrators" are armed publicly in Israel.

Clinton left a legacy all right. The first Intafada featured Palestinians throwing stones. The second Intafada, which is now under way, has Palestinians with machine guns and mortars.

When you read about a Palestinian attack on Israeli Jews using machine guns and mortars, thank Bill Clinton.

I don't know what lies ahead for the continuing conflict between Arabs and Jews, but whatever comes after Yasser Arafat can hardly be worse. Goodbye Yasser. Close the door behind you as you go. Some other lowlife might wander in.