FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794
Send PayPal direct to JimRob@psnw.com
Posted on 03/04/2002 6:54:22 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Opinion in the West Bank and Gaza Strip now has the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Yasser Arafat, at the peak of their popularity.
Palestinian journalists report that the fact that almost all the attacks on Israeli targets are being carried out by the Fatah's Tanzim militias, through the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has greatly improved the prestige of the PA in Palestinian eyes. This new-found prestige stands out against a backdrop on which most of the attacks till recently were perpetrated by opposition groups, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, while the PA's security forces were arresting and jailing those who planned and executed them.
Up until a few weeks ago, when the Israel Defense Forces was busy assassinating activists from the Islamic groups, there were demonstrations and rallies against Arafat and his people. The demonstrators tried to prevent the arrests of the Islamic activists, storming jails in an effort to free prisoners. On several occasions, shooting battles broke out between the Palestinian security forces and Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters.
As was the case in the 1950s and 1960s, when Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of Gaza and Nablus and demanded that Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser and Jordan's King Hussein go to war to stop the IDF's retaliatory raids, so too at the beginning of the intifada there was a lot of bitterness with regard to the fact that the PA, which has 40,000 men in arms, didn't send its forces out to defend the citizenry.
This has all changed now, with Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestine Liberation Organization and in the Palestinian Authority, now serving as the leading Palestinian resistance force.
Palestinian commentators said yesterday that the Sharon government had practically forced Fatah and the PA to take active roles in the violence. Every terrorist attack was followed by Israel pointing a finger at Arafat and his people, and the IDF bombed and destroyed police stations and installations used by the PA security forces. The Israeli attacks on Arafat and the PA legitimized them in the eyes of the Palestinian public, immunizing them from the anger and bitterness of the street, which is suffering distress and looking for the guilty parties.
Conversations last night in East Jerusalem revealed that many Palestinians had felt uneasy when it turned out that the suicide attack Saturday night in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of the capital was aimed at women and children.
But that discomfort disappeared yesterday morning when news broke about the lone Palestinian sharpshooter with an old carbine rifle who managed to debilitate the IDF checkpoint at Ofra.
Damascus Gate's cages were filled with people talking about what a lone, but brave and determined Palestinian sniper can do to the IDF. Unlike the Beit Yisrael attack, which was formally condemned by the Palestinian Authority, the attack at the checkpoint was welcomed by all.
The Palestinian media is broadcasting with a dramatic atmosphere of total war. Palestinian radio broadcasts yesterday were anchored by veteran broadcaster Abu Firas, who only goes on the air nowadays under special circumstances.
He participated in broadcasts that were full of campaign songs and nationalist sloganeering.
The Palestinian papers at the weekend ran dozens of photos fron the fighting in Balata and Jenin. A caricature mocked an Israeli tank that couldn't climb over a boulder labeled Balata. "Balata of Men," is how the press called the refugee camp, not failing to mention that 15 years ago, the first intifada began in the West Bank in the same refugee camp.
If the palestinians had stuck to military targets all along they might have kept my respect. I have always sypmathized with my palestinian friends whose parents lost their homes - but the terror directed at civilians, and the palestinian celebration of it, has worn my sympathy away.
| While Rubenstein is definetly pro-Palestinian and left wing as his newspaper, I would not discount everything he writes. I just finished reading his book, published just after Oslo on Arafat. It was amazing in one point: Here Rubenstein tells us in the first several chapters how NOBODY trusts Arafat, and even his own "close officials" know that. Rubenstein goes on to give us a large amount of great stories about what must be the greatest known liar in history. Rubenstein, of course, does this and explains that this is Arafat's method of work. He is not crazy, this is how he hopes to manipulate events to get what he wants.
He actually wants US to BELIEVE Arafat, when he just PROVED to us that he LIES to get what he WANTS! I finished the book feeling humiliated for Rubenstein... |
What was their first clue?
I hope all the "Palestinians", the ones overtly engaged in terrorism, or covertly providing aid and comfort to them, are making relocation plans.
They're gonna need them.
Muslim/Arabprop is pretty transparent these days, regardless of the conduit.
The cultural posturing and "puffing up" typical of all skunks is unmistakeable...
Isn't it wonderful what Free Republic is degenerating into. Please send in your donations so that FR can enable more posters like this.
thank you for that information
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.