Arafat

Arafat is ill, indeed. But first of all we should await the developments.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37410

The absence of Arafat will create a
"power vaccuum"... like that evident in Iraq since the removal of Saddam Hussein.

Sometimes you're better off with "the devil you know".

But the anarchists and chaotiphiles will find it to be a stimulating experience.

Are you saying that Arafat had the power of a head of state? Does that make him responsible for the actions taken by Palestinians?

I am actually waiting for the first reports of conspiracy theories about Arafat having been poisoned by the Israelis (consider that the doctors couldn't find anything, that his internal organs failed (symptom of slow poisoning) and that Sharon allowed Arafat to leave the country, as if he knew he wouldn't be coming back, etc.).

Poisoning was indeed the first thing I thought of, Paaskynen! I was thinking more by someone in his circle who wanted to take over his position than Israelis, though. Surely if we could think of it his doctors could think of it, but it really seems consistent with that.

And I am waiting for the results of the US elections to come in.

The elections are over didn't the pony express in Norway spread the news?

He was dead..

Arafat is dead. Will that enhance the chances for a settlement of the Palestinian/Israeli dispute? Or will thing continue down the same path of terror and retaliation? What is your opinion?

this could be a good example of what happens to an idealogy when it's leader is taken......I suspect little will change...people die, not ideas, hate, beliefs, principles.......I wouldn't hope for much.....and yet we hope.....<sigh>

Reviled, revered the world over

1929: Born Aug. 4 in Cairo.

1940s-'50s: Smuggles guns to Palestinians who are battling the new state of Israel formed by the United Nations with land his people also claimed.

1951: Trains with Egyptian Army.

1954: Jailed in Egypt for plot to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

1956: Earns civil engineering degree from Faud I University (now Cairo University).

1959: Helps found Al Fatah (meaning "armed struggle"), a political party he headed until his death.

1967: Increases terrorist activities in Israel after Israel defeats Arab armies in Six-Day War.

1969: Becomes head of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

1971: Evicted from Jordan because of terrorist activity; relocates to Lebanon.

1972: Militant PLO faction kills 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.

1974: Arafat addresses UN, bearing a pistol and an olive branch.

1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Jerusalem and hammers out peace deal for Palestinians that Arafat rejects.

1982: Forced out of Lebanon by Israeli invasion; relocates to Tunis, Tunisia.

1983: Syria launches attack against Arafat forces still in Lebanon, killing many.

1987: Intifadeh, or uprising, breaks out in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with widespread clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.

1988: PLO renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel's right to exist and proclaims an independent Palestinian state on West Bank and Gaza Strip.

1990: Arafat marries one of his assistants, 26-year-old Palestinian Suha Tawil.

1993: Secret talks held in Oslo between Israeli and PLO reps; Arafat negotiates peace deal with Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin.

1994: In December, shares Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and Shimon Peres. Months later, peace pact collapses.

1998: President Bill Clinton presides over signing by Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Wye River accord, which was to be a precursor to a final peace deal.

2000: Camp David peace talks called by Clinton come close to peace deal, which is rejected at last minute by Arafat. New intifadeh erupts.

2001: Violence rages; Israel begins targeted killings of terror leaders and blames Arafat for failing to arrest them.

2002: President Bush continues to refuse to deal with Arafat, agreeing with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he is responsible for ongoing violence. Sharon blockades Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters.

2003: The U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations work out a "road map for peace" that immediately gets bogged down.

Aug. 4, 2004: Arafat turns 75, hunkered down behind sandbags in the shell-pocked compound, still blocked by Israeli tanks.

Nov. 11, 2004: Arafat dies.

Originally published on November 11,

Mahmoud Abbas, now at the head of the PLO, and Muhammed Qurei, the Prime Minister, are endeavoring to maintain unity and order, and have called on all factions,including Islamist groups such as Hamas, to act responsibly to avoid a state of tension and confusion at this momentous time.

Hamas said it would commit itself to a truce only if Israel was a party to it, a move rejected by Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister.

I see an effort to maintain unity and order among the Palestinians, but the terrorist groups will continue their activities, as Israel will continue with it's methods of response, as well as it's demands that all terrorism cease before it will negotiate.

So, by and large, it portends to be more of the same, less Arafat.

InfraBlue wrote



Israel being a party to what? In what way?

Israel being a party to a truce, a cease fire.

A truce can be effected only when the terrorism ceases and not before. There will be no retaliation if there is no terror. Blowing up buses and lobbing shells into settlements is not conducive to a "truce."

Sharon didn't imply even that pretext, au.

Since Israeli action has been in response to Palestinian terror what is there to say. Will he commit to a cease fire or truce if the terror continues? No. Should he? Again no.

To me Arafat always looked like Ringo Starr when he was younger and that was part of his appeal for me.

Algis.Kemezys
You've got a hell of an imagination