Amein, I do not see what good it si to harp on one person, Arafat. News reports are already indicating that with Bush's announcement that he should go (implied), arafat has already been made a hero. I would have hoped that he would not have refered to Arafat at all and just called for democratic elections in Palestine.
It is one thing for Osama to hide with his folks elsewhere. I am not saying that Osama is a brave guy for doing that. However his Al Qaeda folks also fled with him. But in Arafat's case, his people in Jenin and Ramallah suffered, many lost their lives and he sat holed up for days. If he came out in front of the tanks and dared the Israelis to kill him, then it would be something. But he just took shelter. And the Israeli troops (Ariel Sharon) also chickened out. Instead of killing him they were killing the civilians, they did not have the guts either to stand up to the world opinion.
Just sit back and think Israel's stupidity. First Ariel Sharon came out and boasted that if Arafat went and attended the Israeli summit in Lebanon, then he would be allowed to come back. When Arafat, seeing that he would be exiled, then decided to stay back in Ramallah and not attend the Arab summit, instead do it over satellite, it upset the barbaric Sharon. In his true barbaric style, Sharon marched his tanks to Ramallah and kept Arafat holed up, thereby acknowledging that he got outsmarted. Hence having come across as stupid, he decided to become a bully. And that was what the doctored ordered. The world terrorists were waiting for that opportunity and they unleashed their reign of suicide bombings.
And guess what. Suddenly we are "discovering" all this about Arafat. That is baloney. The world knew all that about Arafat all along. And you wonder why the Palestenians go for him? For the same reason they voted for Sharon. Put Barak (a general himself) and Bibi in front of Sharon. Who comes across as more suave. Certainly with his bloodied hands of Shatila and Lebanon, Sharon is the least favored in the world community. And Sharon is a man of peace? |
