A Standing Ovation for the Arab Cause
Yasser Arafat has
been able to impose himself on regional and international affairs
since 1969. Coming at an era of revolutionary fervor, the Che
Guevara revolutionary promised the Arabs more action and less talk.
The defeat of 1967 had convinced the Arabs of their military
inferiority, and strengthened the belief in armed resistance. Gamal
Abdul Nasser, the godfather of pan-Arabism, was politically finished
after 1967 and it was believed that Palestine could only be
liberated through a continuous armed struggle orchestrated by the
Palestinians themselves.
This struggle would not be led by Arab
armies, as done in 1948, but rather, through on-going sporadic
attacks and assassinations, both within its borders and abroad.
Arafat was the first person to bring the Palestinian struggle out of
its stuffy geographical context and into the open. To him, every
country was a battlefield and every Israeli an enemy. Arafat
elevated
Palestine from
being a topic of saloon talk, aristocratic debate, and government
rhetoric into an actual "cause."
The earlier PLO Chairman Ahmad al-Shuqayri
had been too old and too civil to lead an effective resistance
movement. While the cigar-smoking Shuqayri was always dressed in
white suite and Ottoman fez, Arafat wore a camouflage suite, a black
beard, and a headgear draped over his shoulder that resembled the
geographical shape of
Palestine. Arafat
was young, only 39 at the time, enthusiastic, and retained a certain
influence over other young men who had co-founded the Fatah movement
with him in 1965.
Arafat transformed the PLO from a puppet
organization controlled and financed by Gamal Abdul Nasser into a
full-fledge freedom movement. Thus,
Arafat's first international image was established, as a hard-boiled
and scruffy guerrilla warrior who was out to destroy
Israel. He
transformed the PLO's image to a sovereign organization based in
Jordan with its own bank account, committees, military bases, and
leadership.
Arafat began his
crusade, killing off Israelis as he went along and prompting
then-Israeli army officer Ariel Sharon to comment, "I don't know
anyone who has as much civilian Jewish blood on his hands as Arafat
since the Nazis time."
In 1970 Arafat was expelled from
Jordan, leaving
behind a war-torn country and a number of his best men slaughtered.
This was his first defeat and many believed that Arafat was over. In
full-arrogance, the defeated Arafat went to the United Nations in
1974 and addressed the General Assembly saying that he had come
"bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun." Given the
right ingredients, Arafat was saying, he could function as either
peacemaker or warrior; it was up to the international community to
decide. He then went to Lebanon, where he fought on two fronts: the
Maronites in Beirut and the Israelis on the border. His presence led
to the Israeli siege of Beirut and the massacre of Sabra and
Shatilla. Although he was defeated and expelled once again, Arafat
invested in his Lebanese endeavor.
From hereon, his news received front-page
coverage worldwide, and more light was shed on the Palestinian
leader and his cause. In the second half of the 1970s, Arafat's
image was elevated from a guerrilla warrior into that of a
politician without a country.
Following 1982, Arafat became an international statesman. While
portraying himself as a pragmatic moderate, Arafat let others do the
fighting for him. In December 1987, the first Palestinian
Intifadah broke out and terrorized Israeli society.
The stone-throwing boys facing armed
battalions shocked the international world order into pressuring
Israel to a
cease-fire. Meanwhile, Arafat watched from a distance. This was a
popular uprising after all, and the he was not responsible for the
sentiment of his people. "The leadership is not prepared to fight
but the people are prepared," Marwan Barghouti, a young activist who
dubs for Arafat, once said in an interview.
The intifadah succeeded, and bullied
the Israelis to negotiations at
Madrid in 1991,
which eventually led to the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993. That same
year, the world's former No.1 terrorist received a Nobel Peace
Prize, and he who was once regarded as a danger to the entire world
order now became a frequent and honored guest at the White House.
Arafat then returned to Palestine, raised the national flag over a
miniature plot of land in his native Gaza and the West Bank, and
told his people, "From now on, we will lead the struggle from
within." While the Arab leaders argued that Arafat had sold out to
the Jews and abandoned the pan-Arab track, Arafat snubbed his nose
at all accusations. He was in fact, left with no other choice since
every Arab leader, who was supposedly committed to "liberating
Palestine" had abandoned him. At least, Arafat argued, he had
returned home, earned international legitimacy for Palestine, and
restored his country, forgotten for so long, into the world
conciseness.
Palestine could
once again be found on maps, and the Palestinians, who for long
could not travel and had to wait for hours for cross-examination at
airports, were issued local Palestinian National Authority passports
and could fly from their own Palestinian airport in Gaza. They
earned a home to live in, a civil service to join, a government to
resort to, and a leader to follow.
Arafat nominated himself for the presidency
and won with an 88 per cent majority. He was sworn-in as the first
President of Palestine in history on
June 27, 1994.
Matters began to fall apart following the
assassination of his peace partner Yitzhak Rabin in November 1996
and crumbled altogether when Ariel Sharon re-ignited the Palestinian
Intifadah in September 2000. Prior to that, Arafat had given
up, maybe the biggest blunder of his career, a perfect opportunity
to affirm Palestinian statehood. In the final months of the
Clinton
presidency, ex-Israeli Premier Ehud Barak had made him "an offer he
couldn't refuse." Ninety per cent of the West Bank, a partial
resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem and Palestinian
sovereignty over the Muslim and Christian quarters of the Old City
of Jerusalem. To his surprise, Arafat, still not satisfied, refused
the offer. Thomas Friedman, a one-time advocate of Arafat who turned
against him following the intifadah, wrote: "if he took 99
per cent, he would be killed for the 1 per cent he left on the
table..."
Today, more so
than ever, Arafat's existence is in danger. Earlier, the Mossad
repeatedly tried in vain, to have him assassinated. In the 1980s and
onwards, it was believed that Arafat was the best possible bet for
Israel.
He was an educated man, a moderate
negotiator, and someone who they could rely on in times of peace.
Any substitute would surely shun a peace and bring matters back to
square one. When
Sharon became
Prime Minister in February 2001, however, he coined Arafat as the
"problem" itself, and not, as President Jacque Chirac had said, "the
key to the problem." For the past year, Sharon has followed a policy
of systematic assassination of leading Palestinian personalities he
considers responsible for keeping the intifadah alive. Today,
more so than ever, Arafat's approval of armed violence, in Sharon's
eyes, is also helping keep the intifadah alive. Therefore,
the Israeli Premier would not even blink about liquidating Arafat,
either physically or politically, in order to preserve "the security
of Israel.
Even Arafat has began to portray himself as
"the victim" more so than the "statesman" or the "fighter." When the
intifadah broke out, Arafat began to feel the need for street
credibility. He set his people free, legitimizing their uprising
against
Israel. After all,
when all else failed, as was the case in 1987, the people were the
key to his success. They would do the fighting and the dying for
him. As long as his 3.1 million subjects are willing to endure pain,
throw stones, and face death, Arafat is in no danger of falling out
with the Palestinians.
On a regional and international level, in
spite of all the challenges, Arafat has survived. Nothing sticks to
Yasser Arafat, no bullets, no scandals, no war, and most important
of all, no defeat. Despite every
setback he has endured, Arafat has repeatedly appeared before his
dreaming and massive audience, smiling, and waving his famous 'V'
sign. A maestro of tactics, he has repeatedly told the Israelis:
"When it's time to struggle, I struggle.
When
Israel is ready
for peace, I'm ready for peace." Ever optimistic, he has not failed
to repeat his famed and catchy phrase, "Next year in Jerusalem."
Despite the defeat, people insist on believing him.
Reputation-wise, he has brushed off
accusations claiming that he has amassed millions, and this is
evident from his modest villa in
Gaza and the
rather frugal life that he leads. He is not corrupt, but rather, a
brilliant corrupter who has bribed everyone in the PA into his
political orbit - and once again, this can be seen from their lavish
lifestyles in Palestine. Ailing with age, he still leads one of the
busiest lives around - constantly traveling, showing up in capitals,
visiting leaders and marketing his cause.
Never in his life has Yasser Arafat been
seen as a lazy or passive leader. He had always been keen on showing
his people that he was occupied doing something for their cause. He
was a survivor in every sense, escaping several strokes, an airplane
crash, surviving numerous assassination attempts by Israeli
intelligence, hostile Palestinian groups, Jordanian commandos,
Syrian troops, and Maronite militias. Practically everyone in the
region tried killing Yasser Arafat at one point, yet he outlived
them all. At one point, Arafat extended a hand of help to every Arab
leader - yet every one of them turned him down. Ostensibly pledging
to work for the Palestinian cause, none of them were willing to
support him with anything but words.
"How can someone liberate a land" he would
ask, "if he is geographically distant from it?" Yet to the pleasure
of some and horror of others, Arafat has outlived his
contemporaries. While a former generation of Arab leaders tried to
kill him, the new one is anxious to court him and brandish his
cause. Over a 41-year career,
Arafat's name has become identical to that of
Palestine.
Courting him meant courting, "the first Arab cause." He is the only
person who has the brains, international standing, and legitimacy
(both as Chairman of the PLO and President of the PA), to
effectively lead the resistance movement. Whether his enemies like
it or not, he is an international statesman of first class caliber.
During the UN General Assembly meeting in
New York on
November 13, Arafat received a standing ovation as he took the
podium - a warmer applause than the one given to President George W.
Bush. No other Arab leader can beat that. As one observer put it,
"The greatest blunder committed by the Arabs - if they are sincere
towards Palestine, is that they did not invest in the life and
career of Yasser Arafat."
Beirut
Gulf
News
November 28, 2001