[J m HofMarN]

I first remember hearing of President Arafat during the Oslo peace talks. I remember his suit quite well as well as the odd head dress and that Bill Clinton seemed to be quite happy hanging out with this strange looking man and some other suit. (the third man being Israeli prime minister Yitzak Rabin)

Yassir Arafat always seemed a bit odd when you saw him. He'd be addressing the united nations wearing an Arab head dress and a tan suit and looking like he didn't belong there. His face betrayed his age but also had that spark of human warmth and life in it that never seemed as though it would go out. That none of us until now ever imagined would go out. He had a passion for freedom and liberty that burned brightly in his eyes.

I always found it remarkable when President Arafat would address the UN and other bodies. These were not his people. These were beurocrats and dictators, some of them the very men who ordered the murder of his people. Like Che Guevara before him he looked completely out of place amid these gatherings and yet he commanded respect from all present whether they accused him of being a terrorist or a heroic fighter for freedom as he truly was.

Arafat was not a ruler. He was a leader. For too long the Israelis and other Arab governments ruled the destiny of the Palestinian people. Yassir Arafat never fully took over the position at the forefront of the Palestinian struggle. Rather he stood beside his people and led them by the hand towards a dream, a dream called freedom.

He was a man of peace, he was a man of war. He hated Israel's assaults on his brothers but he looked beyond the hatred to try to find better ways to stop the murders. He was a kind and generous patron, he was a wrathful avenger. He controlled billions of dollars but he lived a pious and humble life. He lost his mother and his father abandoned him, but he became a father to all the peoples of the world who dream of a better life. It is no accident that the Palestinians call him Abu Ammar. (father of us all)

He shed his blood in nearly every country in the middle east and now he has given his last drop. And so, while we shed our tears for the President of Palestine, we think of freedom as he would have wanted us to. We remember Yassir Arafat, the father and protector of the free land of Palestine.

Arafat was born on August 4, 1929 in Jerusalem. Some claim he came into the world in Cairo or Gaza however taking the words of his excellency over those of all others I trust that he made his beginings in Jerusalem. His parents played little part in his life as his mother died in 1934 and his father virtually abandoned Yassir and his six siblings.

Arafat's childhood home shifted between Jerusalem and Cairo where he attended university. He took part in spirited debates with zionists. By nineteen forty six he was an aspiring Palestinian nationalist, disgusted by the tennets of zionism and eager to do his part in the struggle for a free Palestine, though at the time noone could have guessed what a part that would be.

He began to smuggle weapons to Palestinian freedom fighters and finally had his first chance to participate fully in the struggle in nineteen forty eight, during the Arab Israeli war. However the Egyptian military prevented his band of poorly trained and equipped partisians from taking part in the conflict and he was forced to return to university life.

Here he redoubled his efforts while studying for a civil engineering degree. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood and took part in Palestinian student organizing, serving as president of the Palestinian student body from 1952 to 1956. During the Suez chrisis he joined up with the Egyptian army and rose to the rank of second lieutenant.

Arafat soon moved to Kuwait where he set up his own contracting firm. He also founded what would soon become the forefront of the struggle for Palestinian independence- the Fatah movement. During the six days war of 1964 his forces attempted to sabotage an Israeli water pumping station. However this action did call down the wrath of Israel.

In a reprisal in 1968 the Israelis moved into Jordan, where the freedom fighters had taken up residence, and slaughtered over a hundred of them. Despite such overwhelming odds Arafat's forces repelled the Israeli attackers and he was catapulted from one of many fighting the near futile battle against Israel into a role as a hero to Palestinians, and all Arabs in general.

It is a common belief that Arafat founded the P.L.O. but this would be a mistake. Arafat's Fatah party was a main part of the P.L.O. and came to be the principal force in the P.L.O. by 1969, when Arafat took over P.L.O. leadership from Ahmed Shugeiri, its first leader. In nineteen seventy one Arafat came to preside over the armies of Palestine and in seventy three he was declared head of the P.L.O. political department.

The P.L.O. at this time was largely based in Jordan where many Palestinians had fled to escape Israel. The massive Palestinian presence came to be much like a state within a state, revolving around its leader, Yassir Arafat. However the powerful Palestinian presence worried the Jordanian rulers and they sought to disarm the freedom fighters. Open fighting erupted in 1970 as Arab governments scrambled to negotiate an end to the violence.

Israel allied with Jordan against the Palestinians but Syria came to the aid of the P.L.O. but they were defeated in the end and forced to flee to Lebanon. During his time in Lebanon the Palestinian Liberation Army fought intermittently across the border with Israel, drawing terrible reprisals until finally Israel, with help from the US, invaded Lebanon. In 1974 Arafat renounced violence outside of Israel and Palestine on behalf of his movement and became the first non-governmental representative to address the UN general assembly.

Israel first invaded a part of southern Lebanon in 1978 and then began to move further north. In 1982 they stormed deeper into Lebanon and spurred fierce Guerilla conflict with the defenders. The United States, which participated in the invasion, allowed Arafat and other P.L.O. members to leave Lebanon before they could be captured by the Israelis or used as an excuse for further aggression. However this did not stop the Israelis, under Ariel Sharon (the current ruler) from massacring several thousand Palestinian refugees.

Arafat once again had to reform his group and rise from the ashes of defeat. With funding from Iraq he rebuilt the PLO in Tunisia and began to return to prominence. During the first Palestinian Intifadah in 1987 Arafat's Fatah movement helped to sustain the struggle against Israel. The Intifadah was a direct result of Israeli torture and repression in occupied Palestine. The outgunned freedom fighters, many of them only children or women, fought the Israeli war machine with everything they could lay hands on and their valor, combined with aid from Fatah, proved to Israel that they would not be subjected, leading to the peace accords at Oslo.

In 1988 the PLO declared Palestine's independence from Israel and formed a government in exile. Near the end of that year Arafat spoke before the UN and accepted Israel's right to exist, calling for a halt to all terrorism. On April 7 of 1989 Arafat was elected the first president of Palestine. The next year he married a Palestinian catholic who had converted to Islam, Suha Arafat.

In 1993 the Oslo peace accords took place, ending the first Palestinian Intifadah and calling for the creation of a soveriegn Palestinian state in five years. Arafat shared the Nobel peace prize that year with Shimon Peres and Yitzak Rabin. Two years later his daughter Zawha, who was named after his mother, was born. In nineteen ninety six he was voted president of Palestine again by nearly a ninety percent majority.

Negotiations and fighting continued on and off with Israel until a spark flared that sent the situation spiraling out of control. In the year two thousand Ariel Sharon, the same war criminal who had caused the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, visited the Al Aqsa mosque, the second holiest site to all Muslims. It is suspected by some that Sharon intended to cause the violence in order to aid his goal of becoming prime minister.

This visit, intentional or not, spawned the Al Aqsa Intifadah, or the second Intifadah. The Israelis stormed into Palestine and battered Yassir Arafat's headquarters day and night. Thousands of Palestinians were killed amid the continuing struggle. US ruler George Bush and Ariel Sharon collaborated to accuse Arafat of complicity in terrorism though no proof was ever found of his involvement in recent suicide attacks.

Sharon in particular sought to destroy Arafat and along with Bush tried to force the Palestinians to select a new leader. Arafat held to power however even despite being virtually imprisoned in Ram Allah by Israeli troops for years. Amid threats to kill or exile him Arafat was defiant. "This is my homeland" He stated in 2003. "Noone can kick me out!" He fell ill in October of 2004, possibly poisoned by Mossad agents. He died one the night of November Eleventh in Paris where he was being treated.

I think Arafat's role as a willing peacemaker and a reluctant revolutionary is best summed up by these comments he made to the UN: "I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." Both gun and branch have fallen from the hands of his excellency. But, by the grace of God, I am sure that others will come to pick them up, clench them as tightly as President Arafat did, and wave a flag of liberty over the whole of Palestine.

[Just your average movie goer]

That was a wonderful tribute, JM... very moving and clearly heartfelt. He certainly was a great man and I've felt for his struggle for a long time, his struggle to free his people and their homeland.

I was saddened by the news that he had died. More so, because he will never live to see the freedom that he had been struggling for all his life. But he inspired many others and I believe you are right.

The olive branch and the freedom fighter's gun have fallen from his hands. But others will take them up.

He worked hard to pave a way to a free Palestine. He did not see it in his lifetime but perhaps we may see it in ours.

[Madam Corvax]

Well, I don't know if we will . When I was younger, I thought that world generally progresses and the common effort of men and women will eventually make ita better place. I do not believe it any more. Great people come and go, and the world does not progress, and sometimes moves backwards.

[Paladin]

He was a filthy animal, a terrorist, a savage and worse. My only regret is that he didn't die a violent and nasty death! :angry:

[Just your average movie goer]

Just ignoring that last post.

Madam Corvax...

Well, I don't know if we will . When I was younger, I thought that world generally progresses and the common effort of men and women will eventually make ita better place. I do not believe it any more. Great people come and go, and the world does not progress, and sometimes moves backwards.

These words sum up my own experience so well, it's incredible. You are definitely not alone in this.

[SimeSublime]

That was great, JM. I honestly don't know much about the conflict. When I hear about it, it's always finger pointing and people claiming that their actions were justified due to actions in the past. I know your tribute was biased to one side of the war, but you focused on the positives, which is rare. Unfortunatly, regardless of how many peace makers we have, we need to convice the children. I heard once, "Every Isralie(sp?)child should have a palestinian pen pal". If people learn that we're all the same when we're young, then it will be much harder for the hatred to take effect.

[Madam Corvax]

Ha, Sime, and who is going to teach those children? Parents? School? Religious education classes?

I teach thirteen year's old and I am shocked just how much rasizm they have already picked. It is common for them to call black people and other races than white presented in their English textbooks horrible names and they are quite at a loss, why I am angry. It is quite normal for them. And I believe this reflect the general state of society in my country. And judging from the amount of ethinic fights in the world, also almost anywhere else in the world.

No, I do not think that the world progresses. Usually I am happy when JYAMG agrees with me, but this is just so sad, that it does not help my mood to find out that others noticed it too.

[Vwing]

Arafat may have been a great man (something I'm not all too sure of) but he certainly did nothing to progress the cause of peace in the Middle East. Clinton and the Israeli PM (forgot his name) tried negotiating with him for years, but he just wouldn't cooperate. Because he doesn't want a free Palestinian state. He wants a free Palestinian state in Jerusalem, he wants a Palestinian state taken over from the Israelis. There were many chances to create just a regular state for Palestine, but he wants all of Israel, only for the Palestinians. It seems to me, and I don't know anyone personally so it is not necessarily true when i say this, but it seems to me that many of the Palestinians, or at least the Palestinian leaders, would much rather see Israel fall than see themselves getting a free state outside of Israel. So you know what, maybe he was a great man, maybe he did believe in liberty, but he did not progress the cause of peace, going the same way as leaders of Jordan. They have plenty of open land, but refuse to give it to the Palestinians because, again, they would rather see Israel fall than see the Palestinians with a free state, one that could have easily been provided by them.

I am hopeful about the state of the world. I do think we will progress. In part, I think that technology will allow us to progress. I'm a big science fiction guy, and I am optimistic that once these idiots in Washington and the rest of the world realize that the space program, stem cells, new fuel technology, and other programs will help create a better world, we will get on it, and we will set a goal like Kennedy did in the 60s about going to the moon, and we will accomplish everything we set out to do. It may not happen soon, but it will happen, and eventually, the world will be better.

Look where we were in the US 40 years ago. Blacks had almost no freedoms, but through gradual assimilation, through teaching of young people, there is much less racism. It is still there, but it is slowly being weeded out. That will happen to everything. Since the Renaissance, the world has done nothing but progress. We've had a few missteps, but overall we have gradually gotten better and better, as we learned more, invented more, and started leading better lives. We can't let things like Bush getting reelected, a bunch of racist 13-year-olds in a classroom, and others blind us from that fact. We WILL get off oil, we WILL get into space, we WILL solve the energy crisis, and eventually, we WILL end all this pointless struggle in the Middle East, either through war or diplomacy. But it will end, a new day will come, for THAT is the way of the world, the way of evolution, and I have heard or seen nothing that has led me to believe it will not continue that way.

[J m HofMarN]

I really don't know what direction the world is heading in. It seems that the US is making the same mistakes today that they did forty years ago in Vietnam and still very happy to oppress minorities (instead of black bashing we've moved on to gay bashing) However looking to Western Europe and Canada we can see societies are still moving forward. We see the tennents of socialism being taken up and assimilated, blended with capitalism and liberal theory to make life easier for people.

In the middle east there are still horrible dictatorships and genocidal occupations but women are begining to enjoy more rights and slowly democracy is starting to take root in Iran and you can see people growing tired of the corruption of Saudi Arabia. Even South America, formerly almost a territory of the US is now becoming more democratic with free elections moving forward progressive leaders in Venezuela, Brazil and other nations. I remember the words of John Steinbeck when he wrote that humanity often steps backwards but for every backwards step we take two forward so that, even if we lose ground, we are still just a little further ahead than our forefathers, just a little closer to that ever-present goal.

"Unfortunatly, regardless of how many peace makers we have, we need to convice the children"

from 1/3 to 2/3 of all children in the West Bank are malnourished due to the occupation. Moreover Israeli storm troopers routinely murder children who throw stones at them in vain attempts to drive them from their neighborhoods. I doubt any amount of letters will help much.

"He was a filthy animal, a terrorist, a savage and worse. My only regret is that he didn't die a violent and nasty death!"

Actually Arafat wanted to die in battle for his people. Can you say the same for Ariel Sharon or George Bush? They'd have given up in a heart beat if they were in half the mess Arafat had to live in because they value their own stinking lives more than the common good of their people. I expected stuff like this to be said but I wanted to keep my writings free of the accusations against his excellency. The line between freedom fighter and terrorist is viewed depending on who's side you take, oppressor or oppressed.

Noone will deny that Israel tortures the Palestinians and has committed war crimes against them (Ariel Sharon has avoided trial for these war crimes based on the assumption that he is the head of state, despite the world court calling for him to be tried) The Israelis have killed more Palestinians than any terrorist could ever dream of killing. And yet because the Israelis commit their murder in uniforms they are considered heros while the valiant freedom fighters, who fight back from behind masks and kaffiyehs and do not hide behind uniforms, they are considered terrorists.

Those who horde power and make policy statemenets from their palaces will always be believed by most of their people. It is their perogative to designate those who wage war against them as terrorists. However, as Fidel Castro said while he was on trial for attempting the overthrow of the Battista dictatorship, "History will absolve me!" I believe that, despite the slanders applied to him, Yassir Arafat will in the end be known as a hero to all the world, even when the legacies of those who oppressed his people are nothing but ashes in the fall.

VWing- Arafat had to deal with about four or five Israeli rulers, Barak, Netanyahu, Rabin, Sharon, and one other I believe. Ther problem was that all of these men had different goals and ideas. The PLO originally did call for the destruction of Israel but as part of peace talks in 1993 Arafat accepted Israel and a bi-national solution. I admit that Arafat has passed up opportunities to make peace but so have the Israelis so both parties are equally guilty of continuing hostility. When hatred has raged for so long it takes time to burn out and there are a great many factors that have led to the collapse of most peace negotiations. The struggle is complicated but I'll always have to take the side of the Palestinians.

This post has been edited by J m HofMarN: 11 November 2004 - 06:31 PM

[Jordan]

I'm sure Arafat loved us too. I think if we sided with the palestinians, and then started helping them remove the Israelis, then you guys would think Arafat is a bastard simply because the US would be on his side.

It's a fad to hate anything endorsed by the USA. Damn those bastards to hell.

[Just your average movie goer]

Don't say silly things, Jordan. We sympathise with the Palestinians because they were kicked out of their homeland to make way for the new nation of Israel about half a century ago. If someone kicked you into a remote corner of Canada and took the rest of the country for themselves, I'd daresay you might be upset about it too.

[J m HofMarN]

No Jordan, actually its completely against popular opinion, well, at least in the US and a few other countries. I really don't want to hate everything the government does but this current presidency hasn't done a single thing that I can be proud of. A war, a genocidal occupation, increasing funding to Israel, trying harder to overthrow President Castro, reducing funding for veterans medical care, underfunding our schools, increasing the budget deficit, imprisoning thousands of immigrants without trial, defying the UN charter and the Geneva conventions, accusing teachers unions of being terrorist organizations, backing out of the Kyoto protocols on global warming, backing out of the world court treaty and failing to drop the blockade of Cuba despite a unanimous UN vote against it.

What's to like?

[Vwing]

I'm sorry, in anything involving Israel and Palestine, I have to side with Israel. You know what, the Palestinians kill them every day. You can't go to the goddamn country anymore without legitimate fear that a bus, or a car, or something will explode, not like this fake fear we have in the US because of 9/11. That is terrorism, people. The Israelis have fought for THEIR freedoms. And you know what? They took this piece of crap land, that was dried out, where they said nothing would ever grow agian, and they made it GREEN. You can determine, quite literally, the boundaries of Israel by just seeing where the grass changes from green to brown, from seeing where the desert starts They, in the middle of a hotbed of dictatorships, theocracies, terrorist regimes and the like, made it FREE, they made it a democracy. That is what you call PROGRESS. And Arafat stunted that progress, the Israelis offered him everything he could possibly want, and he denied, because he doesn't care about the land. He cares about killing, or at least overthrowing, the Jews, and taking all of Israel back. The Israelis want nothing but peace, they just want to either be left alone or be friends with the Palestinians. I'm not saying they haven't committed war crimes, of course they have, but when your country is in a constant state of fear, when every citizen fears for his life because of another suicide bomb attack, you know what, it's almost understandable.

I hate how popular sentiment (and it has become much more popular nowadays) has suddenly turned against Israel. They are the ones, as I said, making progress, looking towards progress, towards the furture. I feel bad that the Palestinians were thrown out of their homes. But not anymore, because they had CHANCE after CHANCE after CHANCE to come back, to live in peace, and they gave it up, becasue they couldn't STAND to see the free Israeli, the free Jewish, state next to them.

I also hate another thing. You know what, yeah, Bush sucks. I hate him more than all of you, trust me, because I live here, because I have to deal with the fact that 51 % of the population are morons. But I will NEVER say that America has caused the world, or is causing the world, to move backwards. I hate Bush, but America is still a great country, we are still a force for good in the world. We have made mistakes, many mistakes, the past 4 years. But we will rebound, and I don't want anyone to think that America is a terrible country. In that I agree with Jordan.

And JYAMG, he's not saying silly things. People go against America. If you actually side with the Palestinians because you feel bad for them, and look past all that Israel has done and all the pain the Palestinians have caused for no goddamn reason except this 2000 year war, then I should tell you to stop saying silly things. Because you know what, Jews were kicked out of their homes a while ago too, why don't you feel bad for them, and feel vindicated that they got their home back half a century ago?. Eventually it's gotta stop. You can't just keep saying they got kicked out of their homes, they deserve better, because the same happened to the Jews. Eventually, you have to realize that progress is progress, and the cold reality is that Arafat stunted that progress, and even risked his own people just so he could try to kick Israel out agian. You have to realize that Israel is the beacon of hope in the Middle East, it's the Oasis in the Desert, and if Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the other countries weren't so occupied with destroying Israel instead of modeling their countries after it, then we wouldn't be having these problems in the Middle East. Then there would be peace.

[barend]

well... i do know where the world is heading.. and belive me you don't want to know...

once church and state get married... and they will... the last US election was a testament to that...

when it is in full swing the Dark Ages will look like the Renaisance...

[Jordan]

And Arafat stunted that progress, the Israelis offered him everything he could possibly want

Let's not forget the 7 day war back in the late 70's. Isreal had the oppurtunity to not only crush all of the palestinians, but egyptians (took out there entire air force) and probably the entire middle east. But they didn't. They called their forces back.

The palestinians hate the jews because they are jews. They don't want them there. It was Yasser and crew who started the fight. "get out of our country". They used military force, and when that utterly failed, they began a nice propaganda campaign that consisted of kids tossing rocks at Israeli soldiers. It made the Jews look like baby killers. And of course, fear brought on by terrorism was another tactic in use.

Do you have any idea of how fricken small Israel is? It's a tiny sliver of land!!! Arabs own the entire middle east.


The folowing is not me, but my father.


In the mid 1800's Mark Twain visisted the area and noted that it was largely an unihabited wasteland. There has however always been a jewish presence in the area countinuously dating back to the Roman expulsion. In order to eradicate even the memory of Israel, the Roman renamed the geographic area palestine after the expulsion.

In addition to the above, a small arab popultion migrated in during the 1900 or so years after the mass expulsion of the jews as an adjunct to varous waves of mostly islamic conquest. The numbers were few and there never was any pretense of nationality during the etire period.

Beginning during the later years of the 19th century, Zionist jewish immigration started to repopulate the area. The land had little value and the areas they settled in were purchased from the small indigenous population, not stolen or seized by force of arms.

They proceeded to found and develop thriving businesses which subsequently attracted large numbers of ethnic arabs from surrounding countries who were simply looking for employment.

So much for the "ancient history of the palestinian people."

This post has been edited by Jordan: 11 November 2004 - 08:41 PM