The Reality of Arafat Hangs Over Sharon
Last week, I
wrote an article for this newspaper saying that Yasser Arafat was
achieving a reputation for himself among the Palestinians "almost as
similar as that of the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser." A
Gulf News reader responded to my article saying that Arafat
was nowhere close to being a legend before his own people. All this
was said before Israeli troops came storming into Arafat's office on
March 29, killing off hundreds of Palestinians. Unwillingly, Ariel
Sharon has supported my argument, boosting Arafat's image throughout
Arab circles like no person before him. On all accounts, Arafat is
being hailed as a legend in Arab circles today and praised for his
bravery by everyone - enemy and ally alike. This unmatched
popularity for the Palestinian leader has no doubt angered many
Israelis, especially Prime Minister Sharon, who as time is proving,
is obsessed with Yasser Arafat. He was seemingly not joking last
year when he declared, "I am sorry I did not kill him in Beirut."
One thing is clear today, however, and it is that the latest
escalation and blood will lead to the downfall of either Ariel
Sharon or Yasser Arafat, or both.
On a personal level, and one cannot be but
sentimental under such circumstances, I do not believe that Arafat
will fall. The Israelis cannot risk making a martyr out of him. The
last Palestinian leader of Arafat's popularity who was killed by the
Jews was Izz al-Dinn al-Qassam. He died in combat in 1936 and today,
65 years later, an armed militia is fighting in his name and
missiles labeled "Qassam 2" are being launched into
Israel. This is
a danger that Sharon simply cannot bequeath to his grandchildren.
However, the desire to keep Arafat alive is
not enough to guarantee Arafat's safety, as U.S. President Bush
said. After all, Arafat is only human, and under tremendous stress,
suffering from illness, lack of proper food, and at the age of 73,
the Palestinian leader can suffer a heart attack and drop dead at
any minute. I have lived under shelling in
Beirut, nowhere
close to what Arafat is experiencing, and I know how stressful it is
to be under attack. Would Israel then take responsibility for his
death? Could it afford making a Izz al-Dinn al-Qassam out of him?
Nobody knows how destructive killing Arafat
can be more than Arafat himself. In an interview with an Arab
channel, he angrily asked, "Where do they think they are coming?
Don't they realize that this will vibrate the Middle East?"
On a Palestinian level, all factions of the
national movement have united under Abu Ammar's leadership. Even
those whom he had arrested, deported or killed, are all united
behind him in an extraordinary show of solidarity. The Arab public
is also boiling with unperceived support for Palestine and Arafat.
Through-out the region, parades, demonstrations and speeches have
been made in favor of Arafat and his heroic stance. Even in Syria,
where the masses have been taught to hate Yasser Arafat as much as
they are taught to hate Israel, parades have taken place in Damascus
carrying pictures of Abu Ammar. In Damascus, demonstrators carried
photos of Arafat, Bashar al-Asad and Gamal Abdul Nasser.
Demonstrators smashed automobiles, shop windows, and street
billboards, demanding more support for the intifadah. Despite
the demonstrations, however, Syria has not issued a formal statement
offering its recognition of Arafat. Since March 29, Syria's state
run newspapers have printed front-page news of the massacres in
Palestine, making no reference to Arafat.
In Egypt and
Jordan, President Husni Moubarak and King Abdullah have failed to
respond to popular demand and expel Israeli ambassadors from their
capitals. It must be noted that according to the Camp David Accord
of 1978 and the Wadi Araba Accord of 1994, Egypt and Jordan can
withdraw their ambassadors from Tel Aviv and expel the Israeli
ambassador from their capitals: such an act would not be a violation
of the peace accords. Instead, authorities in both countries have
resorted to beating demonstrators with water pumps, clubs, and tear
gas. More than any other countries in the Middle East, Egypt and
Jordan are threatened by the escalation in Israel and it is not
doubtful that both regimes will receive serious threats from their
citizens if they continue to crackdown on public sentiment.
They forget that movements hostile to
leaders' treatment of the Palestinian issue in 1949 and 1952 toppled
the regimes of Syria and Lebanon respectively.
The fact that both King Abdullah and
President Moubarak did not attend the Arab Summit in Beirut, which
ended one day before the massacre, does not make it easier for both
leaders. They are suspected of having known of Sharon's intentions
beforehand and therefore, did not bother to attend the Arab Summit.
Moubarak even stunned audiences by contacting the Palestinian leader
and offering to send him an airplane to transport him to Cairo for
safety - something which Sharon would have loved but which Arafat
flatly turned down. The story, although not covered in the Arab
press, was nevertheless reported in the London-based The
Independent which is highly accurate in its news.
Meanwhile, as anger and chaos took over the
Arab world, panic prevailed in Israel. To date, Sharon has not lost
support of the Israeli public, but it takes a few more weeks of
martyr bombings to do the trick and destroy the patience of the
Israeli public. Elected as prime minister in February 2001, Sharon
promised his people three things: security, peace, and economic
revival. To date, none of them have been achieved. Security is
non-existent, with more Israelis killed in the past year than in all
of Israel's recent history. Peace is also dead, with Sharon having
killed the last elements of the Oslo Accords by occupying cities
under Palestinian jurisdiction.
According to a report from Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, Israel
has suffered huge financial damage to the economy since the
intifadah broke out in September 2000.
Kofi Anan best described the situation on
April 1 by saying that only a "reckless optimist" would say that the
worse is over in the Middle East. It is clear that so long as Sharon
is in power, violence will continue and he will continue to crush
the Palestinian movement, thinking that Arafat and his people will
surrender. They will continue to fight and inflict damage on Israel
to an extent where Israel cannot sustain losses any longer. Only
then will Sharon fall. Other options, such as relying on Arab, EU,
or American support, or expanding the conflict to a regional war,
have been crossed off the option list. The Palestinians can rely on
some Arab organizations, like Hizbullah, for arms and certain Arab
countries, like Syria and Lebanon, to harbor the resistance
movements. "To hell with the Arabs, the Palestinians are the only
Arabs left" is a phrase being heard over and over throughout
nationalistic Arab circles. As I am wrapping up this article, I can
see on television the Israeli Army has bombarded a mosque, a church,
and prevented Red Crescent officials from catering to the wounded.
From my window, I can also see and hear
violent marches crippling the streets of Beirut with posters of
Jerusalem, maps of Palestine, and pictures of Yasser Arafat. I can
also see and hear Yasser Arafat in 1974 addressing the UN General
Assembly while raising an olive branch and saying, "I come to you
carrying an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Don't let the
olive branch fall from my hand." Today, 30 years later, we can
understand what Arafat meant: the olive branch is temporary if the
Israelis want to grab at it - but the freedom fighter's gun is there
for life - it is there for granted!
Beirut
Gulf News
April 4, 2002