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November 11, 2004
Arafats death -- should we be 'gleeful'?
Reader Mieke asked that in my post announcing Arafat's death.
Gleeful does seem unseemly, as it were. However, his death is most welcome. My only complaint is that it didn't happen soon enough. Let's just review a moment Arafat's true legacy
– Aug 4, 1929: Arafat born in Cairo. Muhammad Abdel Rahman Abdel Rauf al-Qudwa al-Husseini is fifth child of prosperous merchant, Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini.– 1933: Arafat's mother dies. He and his infant brother are sent to live with uncle in Jerusalem.
– Late 1950's: Arafat co-founds Fatah, the “Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine.”
– Jan. 1, 1965: Fatah fails in its first attempted attack within Israel — the bombing of the National Water Carrier.
– July 5, 1965: A Fatah cell plants explosives at Mitzpe Massua, near Beit Guvrin; and on the railroad tracks to Jerusalem near Kafr Battir.
– 1965-1967: Numerous Fatah bomb attacks target Israeli villages, water pipes, railroads. Homes are destroyed and Israelis are killed.
– July 1968: Fatah joins and becomes the dominant member of the PLO, an umbrella organization of Palestinian terrorist groups.
– Feb. 4, 1969: Arafat is appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO
– Feb. 21, 1970: SwissAir flight 330, bound for Tel Aviv, is bombed in mid-flight by PFLP, a PLO member group. 47 people are killed.
– May 8, 1970: PLO terrorists attack an Israeli schoolbus with bazooka fire, killing nine pupils and three teachers from Moshav Avivim
– Sept. 6, 1970: TWA, Pan-Am, and BOAC airplanes are hijacked by PLO terrorists.
– September 1970: Jordanian forces battle the PLO terrorist organization, driving its members out of Jordan after the group's violent activity threatens to destabilize the kingdom. The terrorists flee to Lebanon. This period in PLO history is called “Black September.”
– May 1972: PFLP, part of the PLO, dispatches members of the Japanese Red Army to attack Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, killing 27 people.
– Sept. 5, 1972: Munich Massacre —11 Israeli athletes are murdered at the Munich Olympics by a group calling themselves “Black September,”said to be an arm of Fatah, operating under Arafat's direct command.
– March 1, 1973: Palestinian terrorists take over Saudi embassy in Khartoum. The next day, two Americans –including the United States' ambassador to Sudan, Cleo Noel – and a Belgian were shot and killed. James J. Welsh, an analyst for the National Security Agency from 1969 through 1974, charged Arafat with direct complicity in these murders.
– April 11, 1974: 11 people are killed by Palestinian terrorists who attack apartment building in Kiryat Shmona.
– May 15, 1974: PLO terrorists infiltrating from Lebanon hold children hostage in Ma'alot school. 26 people, 21 of them children, are killed.
– June 9, 1974: Palestinian National Council adopts “Phased Plan,” which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state on any territory evacuated by Israel, to be used as a base of operations for destroying the whole of Israel. The PLO reaffirms its rejection of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for a “just and lasting peace” and the “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”
– November 1974: PLO takes responsibility for the PDFLP's Beit She'an murders in which 4 Israelis are killed.
– Nov. 13, 1974: Arafat, wearing a gun, addresses the U.N. General Assembly.
– March 1975: Members of Fatah attack the Tel Aviv seafront and take hostages in the Savoy hotel. Three soldiers, three civilians and seven terrorists are killed.
– March 1978: Coastal Road Massacre —Fatah terrorists take over a bus on the Haifa-Tel Aviv highway and kill 21 Israelis.
– 1982: Having created a terrorist mini-state in Lebanon destabilizing that nation, PLO is expelled as a result of Israel's response to incessant PLO missile attacks against northern Israeli communities. Arafat relocates to Tunis.
– Oct. 7, 1985: Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Wheelchair-bound elderly man, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown overboard. Intelligence reports note that instructions originated from Arafat's headquarters in Tunis.
– Dec. 12, 1988: Arafat claims to accept Israel's right to exist.
– September 1993: Arafat shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, inaugurating the Oslo Accords. Arafat pledges to stop incitement and terror, and to foster co-existence with Israel, but fails to comply. Throughout the years of negotiations, aside from passing, token efforts, Arafat does nothing to stop Hamas, PFLP, and Islamic Jihad from carrying out thousands of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. With Arafat's encouragement and financial support, groups directly under Arafat's command, such as the Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, also carry out terror attacks.
– Oct. 21, 1996: Speaking at a rally near Bethlehem, Arafat said "We know only one word - jihad. jihad, jihad, jihad. Whoever does not like it can drink from the Dead Sea or from the Sea of Gaza." (Yediot Ahronot, October 23, 1996)
– April 16, 1998: In a statement published in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, Arafat is quoted: "O my dear ones on the occupied lands, relatives and friends throughout Palestine and the diaspora, my colleagues in struggle and in arms, my colleagues in struggle and in jihad...Intensify the revolution and the blessed intifada...We must burn the ground under the feet of the invaders."
– July 2000: Arafat rejects peace settlement offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, which would have led to a Palestinian state.
– September 2000: New "intifada" is launched. Arafat continues to incite, support and fund terrorism.
– Jan. 3, 2002: Israelis intercept the Karine-A, a ship loaded with 50 tons of mortars, rocket launchers, anti-tank mines and other weapons intended for the Palestinian war against the Israelis. The captain admits he was under the command of the Palestinian Authority.
– September 2003: IMF report titled "Economic Performance and Reforms under Conflict Conditions," states that Arafat has diverted $900 million of public PA funds into his own accounts from 1995 - 2000.
What is truly unseemly today is the so-called world leaders who are lauding this Egyptian terrorist creepazoid. Jhimmi Carter who undercut President Bush at every turn even calling him a "liar", calls Arafat "A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate." Chirac praises Arafat as a "man of great courage."
Heaven forbid I be gleeful. However, I wish Arafat died long ago and I hoped he suffered horribly before he died.
Posted by Darleen at November 11, 2004 10:24 AM
Comments
True confessions - My toes curled with joy at the hope that this block against peace is finally removed, now if only the radical orthodox Jews would just get out of the way.
– July 2000: Arafat rejects peace settlement offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, which would have led to a Palestinian state.
I have friends that were there with Clinton when Arafat blew this whole deal. They wanted to kill him -not literally, but then...maybe. They were soooooooooo close. But this man did just not want to give up power. This entire exercise with Clinton and Barak was about his EGO.
Posted by: Mieke at November 11, 2004 11:02 AM
You don't mean that about his suffering.
I agree with you that he should have died a lot earlier, or been removed, but you cannot wish suffering on anyone, no matter how much suffering they caused, because then we become like him.
High road.
Posted by: Mieke at November 11, 2004 11:04 AM
Saw your comment on Stones Cry Out..and checked your blog. I agree with you on Arafat. I considered him cut from the same cloth as UBL and consider him no better than the other dead terrorists.
Posted by: Thunder Runner at November 11, 2004 12:47 PM