Arafat and the empire of terror, corruption and hate
he created will thwart all efforts for peace.
All the goodwill in the world will not change this.
Let's Make Believe
By Jonathan Tobin
New 'peace' proposals ignore facts about Arafat and the
world he rules
Throughout the period of post-Oslo euphoria, the
consistent theme sounded by Israel's left and their
cheering section abroad was that "you make peace with
your enemies, not your friends."
There was a certain logic to that; obviously, violent
conflicts are not conducted by allies. The correct
rejoinder was to state that one made peace with former
enemies, not those still engaged in the business of
war. But that point rarely made the same impact as the
original slogan.
The intervening decade of Palestinian terrorism and
broken promises took most of the air out of the
peace-camp balloon. But the human capacity for holding
on to hope, as well as for self-deception, should never
be underestimated.
After three years of a bloody intifada, many on the
left are back to their old tricks ¯ we're hearing more
and more about how Israel must make more concessions to
achieve that elusive final peace with the Palestinians.
A so-called "Geneva Initiative" was recently reached
by a few failed Israeli politicians with some of
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's underlings. This
ploy, paid for and promoted by the Swiss and other
Europeans who are hostile to Israel, added on to the
concessions offered by former Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak in 2000. Even Barak has been quoted as
saying that the thing is insane.
Another initiative is a petition promoted by Ami
Ayalon, a former Israeli intelligence chief.
Both these efforts have gained the applause of the
world and been relentlessly promoted by the Western
news media.
DEATH, TAXES AND ARAFAT
The problem is, they are doomed to fail, just as the
Oslo accords and all those plans put forward before and
since were similarly doomed. If there is anything in
this life that is certain, other than death and taxes,
it's that Arafat and the empire of terror, corruption
and hate he created will thwart all efforts for peace.
All the goodwill in the world will not change this.
Despite the hot air expended promoting the various
plans, most people in the United States don't seem to
understand the Palestinian leader too well.
That makes the new biography of Arafat by think-tank
scholar Barry Rubin and his wife, journalist Judith
Colp Rubin, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography,
essential reading for anyone hoping to comprehend the
situation.
The couple, who has been studying their subject for
decades, assert that the rejection of Barak's peace
offer at Camp David in July 2000 is the key to t heir
thesis about Arafat. Had his primary goal been to
establish a Palestinian state and improve the situation
of his people, then he would have said yes to that
offer, or to the even better deal offered several
months later at Taba, Egypt. But his refusal left them
with no alternative but to conclude that he was
primarily a "romantic revolutionary."
His career has been, they assert, a remarkable
paradox. He has been the unchallenged leader of the
Palestinians for decades; he also created the paradigm
for modern terrorism, and managed the incredible feat
of simultaneously carrying out mass murder while
garnering sympathy from the Western press.
But his brethren have gotten little from this. The
authors write that the "ultimate irony" of Arafat's
life is that "the man who did more than anyone else to
champion and advance the Palestinian cause also
inflicted years of unnecessary suffering on his people,
delaying any beneficial redress of their grievances or
solutions to their problems."
The book shows that Arafat has repeated the same
pattern in every chapter of his life. His goal is to
give the other side the impression that just one more
concession is all that's needed to achieve peace. After
he receives that concession, he asks for more. He is a
great negotiator, able to wear down his opponents. But
the man doesn't know how to say yes, and has let every
chance for a deal go by the wayside.
Part of this is his well-established habit of using
front groups ¯ which he pretends are radical dissident
factions ¯ to do the dirty work for him. That makes
Arafat look "moderate," and literally allows him to get
away with murder.
The most famous example of this was the so-called
"Black September" terrorist group that carried out the
1972 Munich Olympic massacre. That pattern was repeated
in the last three years with the establishment of the
Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade to carry out terrorism against
Israelis. Reputable news organizations still carry
Arafat's condemnations of their atrocities without
noting that he is the paymaster and ultimate commander
of the group.
Despite the siege imposed on him by Israel, he has
maintained his mafia-like control over virtually every
aspect of Palestinian life. Those who imagine that an
alternative leadership might emerge while he's alive
are kidding themselves.
AN IMMOVABLE OBSTACLE
And that's where the latest talk about peace runs
straight into a brick wall. As the couple's scholarship
illustrates, Arafat is obsessed not with founding a
nation, but by the fear that history will portray him
as the man who "sold Palestine to the Jews." By that,
he means legitimizing the Jewish presence in any part
of the country, including Israel in its pre-1967
borders.
He is, therefore, the primary and immovable obstacle
to any chance of peace. That means that the Bush
administration policy seeking to eliminate him from the
peace process is quite right. But given the fact that
all proposed alternatives to him are mere feints, the
administration's push for Israeli concessions to
encourage such alternatives are as wrong-headed as
their conclusions about Arafat are correct.
Someday, Arafat will die, and that may change things.
It is possible that his successors will be better. But
given the dynamic of hate for Israel and Jews that has
governed Palestinian life ¯ especially education ¯
under Arafat, there is little reason for optimism.
Arafat's legacy of rejectionism may well doom peace
efforts for the foreseeable future and beyond.
That is not a comforting thought, and I don't doubt
that many will continue chipping away at Israel's
bargaining position to reach an objective that simply
cannot be achieved. Such persons will accuse the
realists of dooming the Jewish people to endless
conflict. But the truth is, that choice has already
been made by the other side.
© 2003, Jonathan Tobin
.
|
