Posted on 05/03/2002 7:36:05 AM PDT by thatcher
Whisper of betrayal as Arafat is shunned
By Alan Philps in Ramallah
(Filed: 03/05/2002)
YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian leader, emerged from a month of captivity to make a victory tour of Ramallah yesterday. But it was shunned by most of the populace, amid whispers of betrayal.
A small crowd of supporters joined him - only enough to fill the viewfinder of a television camera. There was no joy on the streets to celebrate the departure of the Israeli army after five months in the north of the city. Schoolchildren filled the gap left by volunteers.
The cause of the muttering among Palestinians was the agreement under which Mr Arafat ended the siege of his compound in return for handing over six Palestinian militants wanted by Israel into British-supervised custody.
"Arafat paid a very high price for his freedom," said one shopkeeper.
"The Israelis lifted the closure around his compound, but it remains imposed on all the Palestinians. We cannot move anywhere outside of town. It is an incomplete achievement."
According to British officials, the deal gives Mr Arafat his freedom of movement, including foreign travel and return. But the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was quick to give warning that he would not guarantee his return if he stepped outside the Palestinian territories.
Mr Arafat began his victory tour by visiting the Sheikh Zayed hospital and praying over a mass grave in the car park where 16 people who died during the Israeli re-occupation are buried.
He moved on to the Education Ministry to see the damage done by the army. All the computer hard disks have been removed, as well as the files and records of the past seven years' exam results.
The Palestinian leader was in an aggressive mood to deflect questions about the deal he worked out to end the siege and what he would do next.
When reporters rushed into his compound after the last Israeli tank left, he ordered them: "Go away and investigate what is happening in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem."
Ten peace activists - including Georgina Reeves, a Briton who lives in the Palestinian territories and is organiser of the International Solidarity Movement - slipped into the besieged church after colleagues created a diversion to distract Israeli soldiers.
The activists took food into the church, where about 180 Palestinian gunmen, as well as priests, monks, nuns and other civilians have been trapped for a month.
To Palestinians Mr Arafat is guilty of taking part in a deal under which six men who are seen as heroes and freedom-fighters are imprisoned in a Palestinian jail under the eyes of British and American monitors.
The attraction from Israel's point of view is that a United Nations investigation into the Israeli army assault on the Jenin refugee camp will be quietly forgotten. After Israel raised objections to the fact-finding team its 20 members, who have been waiting in Geneva for almost a week, were going home yesterday.
Abla Saadat, wife of Ahmed Saadat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who is detained in the Jericho prison, said the ditching of the Jenin inquiry was a betrayal. "It is not just me who thinks so. Ninety per cent of the Palestinians, even some people around Arafat think so," she told reporters.
Mrs Saadat put into words the despair of the Palestinians after 19 months of violence. For all Mr Arafat's promises of victory, the Israeli iron fist has left city centres in ruins, broken the lives of thousands and ripped the guts out of the Palestinian administration, just like the Education Ministry computers.
"For 50 years Israel never brought us to despair. But seven years of Palestinian rule has brought us to the brink," she said. "Did we achieve a victory? Did we end the occupation? Only from around Arafat's compound."
The same negative sentiments were aired for hours on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite news channel, though speakers were asked not to use the word "treachery".
The message is clear: Mr Arafat was a hero under siege. He began to lose this status as soon as the tanks withdrew from his compound.
Television interviews by candle light are Mr Arafat's forte. But slogans will not rebuild the damage to Palestinian homes, offices and infrastructure - estimated at £240 million over the past month - and there are ever louder demands for a change in leadership style.
Palestinians still talk of an intifada, or uprising, but it has dawned on them that times have changed.
Dennis ...as you know....rightwing Christians ....even non evagelicals like me....are 95% bigtime Israel supporters. It's simply right and wrong or us versus them for me. I don't harbour much ambiguity on this issue.
More like an attempt to know future battle plans.
This is true. There is no erasing that the Israeli incursions have greatly reduced the level of terrorism, and will continue that effect for a long time ahead.
But, unfortunately, Arafat has risen from the near-dead before. When he went to Camp David, his popularity among his people was low because they feared he would betray their cause. Ever since he returned, having rejected all compromises, his stock in the Palestinian street has been high -- until this week. Now, once again, they fear he has gone soft and become a tool of the Western powers. Arafat will now be doing everything possible to prove he is just as militant as Hamas and friends. Whether he can pull it off remains to be seen, but the Saudi's sure seem to think he can.
DUH....maybe violence isn't the answer?
"For all Mr Arafat's promises of victory, the Israeli iron fist has left city centres in ruins, broken the lives of thousands and ripped the guts out of the Palestinian administration, just like the Education Ministry computers."
Perhaps all of Yasser's promises are empty. IMO, it would be very much in Ariel Sharon's best interests to allow the US and Brits examine the disks taken off those computers, so we can be witnesses if any "kill the Jews" propaganda is found on them.
" 'For 50 years Israel never brought us to despair. But seven years of Palestinian rule has brought us to the brink,' she said. 'Did we achieve a victory? Did we end the occupation? Only from around Arafat's compound.' "
Another DUH. I believe she is speaking the absolute truth...and believe equally that she has no concept of WHAT is true about these statements:
[almost] 50 years of Palestinian peace under Israel.
7 years of hell under Yasser's brand of compassionate dictatorship.
Yasser and like minded career terrorists have sold the Palestinian people a BAD BILL OF GOODS!
What happened to the glowing AP reports of Yasser's "triumphant" and "jubilant" tours after his release? Sounds like the people Yasser lied to all these years might be building up to their own little fatwa against him, heheheh...while Reuters and the AP will continue to blame Israel for Yasser's misdeeds.
Dennis ...as you know....rightwing Christians ....even non evagelicals like me....are 95% bigtime Israel supporters. It's simply right and wrong or us versus them for me. I don't harbour much ambiguity on this issue.
Darn right I know this and tell many about this. Rush Limbaugh is a great Christian supporter. Today's show is just about his *righteous* take on Israel/MidEast for the first 15 minutes......so far.....
There is a spiritual dimension to this war that we see in the MidEast. Atheists such as Justine Raimunda ignore this at their own peril.
LOL!
Small problem: there weren't any.
I believe that the inteligence glimmerer is speaking of Yasser and Friends' New IMPROVED version of history, which makes all 'Palestinians' in existence today 'refugees' who live in 'refugee camps', and dates the 'Israeli occupation' back to 1948.
This bears repeating.
It is an incomplete achievement
No kidding. The history of the Palestinians has been a long list on incomplete achievements.
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