November 11, 2004 12:00 a.m. ET
I offer my condolences to Yasser Arafat's family, his partners in the PLO and to the Palestinian people who are grieving the passing of the man who symbolized their hopes and aspirations for so long.
History will record that Yasser Arafat's greatest moment occurred on September 13, 1993, when he and Israel's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, shook hands on the White House lawn and signed the Oslo Accords which led to seven years of negotiation, progress and relative peace.
However others viewed him, the Palestinians saw him as the father of their nation. I regret that in 2000 he missed the opportunity to bring that nation into being and pray for the day when the dreams of the Palestinian people for a state and a better life will be realized in a just and lasting peace.
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Meaning what? Even though millions of people KNEW he was a terrorist who was quite willing to blow up Jews in buses, etc., to make a point? Even though they could have had their own land years ago, but Arafat turned it down because he thought it wasn't enough, and now they have NOTHING because of him? The shortness of collective memories is mind-boggling. And the above two illustrations are only two of a vast number of evil things, bad moves, etc., that Arafat directed on his own and with the help of some others who still remain in power over there. Let's see how generous are the remembrances when that money they were hoping to get their hands on in Switzerland (another stand-up country - not) cannot be gotten to. Arafat deserves all the vitriol he's getting now. Unfortunately, he's not around to hear it. My guess is he's pretty busy trying to stay cool, though.