If Arafat had been aborted by Robert Zelnick
R.Z. - If Yasser Arafat had died at birthIt behooves a word crafter, when using the words "aborted" and "died at birth" to recognize the difference (or if the editor choose the title - the editor).
If one is going to delve in "ifs" one could go back to the beginning and say "If Sarah had not rejected Abraham's second son we would not have today's deadly family feud.
R.Z. - ...a Palestinian state would today likely be living side by side with a Jewish state, in peace. The Palestinian state would be called Jordan, which claimed and governed with West Bank from the end of the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 to the Six Day War of 1967.
Now your "if" has been removed from this equation - where is the olive branch? Oh yeah, I remember they are all being bulldozed.
R.Z. - After that, Arafat took over the Palestine Liberation Organization and quickly began attacking noncombatants. In an era of shattered pride born of humiliating military setback, hijacking airplanes and Murdering children in their schools suddenly seemed a worthy national enterprise. By 1974 an Arab League summit proclaimed the PLO "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
The "shattered pride" came in the late 1940's when Palestinian people were removed from their lands. Israeli rejection of Palestinians has crept into their every day language and here is an example from an acquaintance currently living in Israel, "He is as lazy as an Arab porter."
R.Z. - From then on, the Palestinian community bore at least some of the characteristics of nationhood
And what was it before Israel was carved out of their land?
R.Z. - This was the sole political accomplishment Arafat could reasonably attribute to terrorism. Both before and after this "achievement" terrorism hurt the Palestinian cause, blinded its adherents to reality and, in the end, doomed its mentor to irrelevance.
The funeral that was broadcast world wide looked more like reverence to this viewer.
R.Z. - Drafters of "land for peace" plans, road maps, election schemes and political reforms all knew nothing could happen with Arafat in control. So they spent their time in frivolity, waiting for him to die.
Is that why Israeli terrorists killed Rabin?
R.Z. - Let us not ignore the reason for Arafat's failure. It was the brilliant counter-terrorism strategy of the state of Israel.
R.Z. - Arafat's legacy is that he got the Palestinian people to accept a two state solution.
And has Israeli's "brilliant counter-terrorism" made their people feel safer?(And do they feel safer with the US in Iraq?)
R.Z. - King Hussein of Jordan was the first to absorb the lesson. He crushed the Palestinian gunslingers
...shades of the Texas Ranger Bush
R.Z. - Politically the Israelis were no less steadfast. Throughout the '70s and '80s, they refused to deal with the PLO until its leader publicly renounced terrorism.
or more clearly, "We're the good guys with nuclear weapons - you guys with guns and rocks have to lay down your weapons but we do not need to we're the good guys"
R.Z. - And when Arafat's word turned to suicide bombs
But before the "turn" - Sharon forced his way into a Palestinian mosque.
R.Z. - and illegal weapons shipped in aboard the Karin A,
And Israeli nuclear weapons are "legal"?
R.Z. - the Israelis returned to Palestinian towns and villages with a vengeance, teaching residents that they too would pay a price for
their "martyrs."Ah yeah... vengeance!
R.Z. - But in a moment of truth at Camp David and, later at Taba, Israel was willing to abandon most settlements
oh how long how many times must we hear of this "willing to" while we wait and wait...still...
1)... He (Arafat) went from the negotiating table to the helm of a mindless Intifada.
2) He died bequeathing his people an identity but not a state.
How mindless is it to believe one can have a state without an identity? At least the first Zionists that went to the middle east BOUGHT their land. What indeed will the "identity" of Israel be with the long years of suffering of the Palestinians as they increased their "state" from 23% of Palestine to 77% ...and growing even as Sharon was "negotiating peace"?
R.Z. - His life should be studied as an object lesson in how terrorism can be defeated.
or more succinctly said "Terrorism can be defeated as long as we keep killing those who disagree with us, in this case, our cousins."
Why cannot the supporters of Jews in Israel stop repeating their mantra of woes long enough to hear the woes of their neighbors?
Why can not you, Robert Zelnick, do your word crafting regarding peaceful solutions? Too much blood has been spent on all sides, is still being spilled.
We all want peace now, let it begin with me, let it continue with R. Zelnick. If we are not now weary of warring, how weary must we get?
Please stop crowing, God's children (Muslims/Christians/Jews) are dying in huge numbers.
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