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CounterPunch
September
23, 2002
The Murder of
Arafat
by Uri Avnery
While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still
alive. But his life is hanging on a thread.
When we visited him the last time in
his bombed-out Mukata'ah compound in Ramallah, I warned him that
Sharon is determined to kill him.
Everybody acquainted with Sharon knows
that he never lets go. When he does not achieve his aim the first
time, he tries again, and again, and again, and again. Never,
ever, does he give up.
Already in besieged Beirut, at the height
of the Lebanon war, Sharon was trying to put his hands on him.
Dozens of agents, mostly Phalanges members, were combing the
western quarters in order to catch him. He evaded them, as he
has evaded dozens of assassination attempts before and after,
by Abu-Nidal (who was at least partly a Mossad hireling) and
others.
Now Sharon believes that he can achieve
his aim. He needs only Bush's approval. Not necessarily a formal
confirmation. A subtle hint will suffice. Half a word. A wink.
It will be easy to implement the decision.
An incident can be put in motion: soldiers enter the office in
order to capture "wanted" people, somebody opens fire,
Arafat will be shot "by accident". Arafat may draw
 his pistol, soldiers will "have
no alternative" but to return fire. A shell may hit the
office "by mistake", Arafat will be buried under the
rubble. After all, in war accidents happen. A lot of accidents.
Sharon never wanted to "deport"
Arafat to Gaza or any other place in this world. He wants to
deport him to the next world. Now this is possible.
Therefore, it is necessary to speak out
bluntly and unequivocally:
Morally, the murder of Arafat, the historical
leader and elected president of the Palestinian people, is reprehensible.
Like the murder of Rabin.
Legally, the murder of Arafat is a war
crime.
Politically, it will be said about the
murder of Arafat what a French statesman said about another political
murder: "It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake!"
Arafat is the man who decided, 28 years
ago, to start on the road to a settlement with Israel, in order
to realize this way the national aspirations of the Palestinian
people. At the time, that was an incredibly bold decision, and
he took it long before Rabin and Peres even dreamed about Oslo.
I know, because I was an eye-witness to the beginnings of the
process.
Since then, Arafat has not changed by
one iota the decision he took then: to seek conciliation with
Israel within the framework of peace that will include an independent
Palestinian state, return to the pre-1967 border with mutually
agreed adjustments, Jerusalem capital of both states, withdrawal
of the settlers, suitable security arrangements, a mutually agreed
solution of the refugee problem.
On this basis, peace is possible even
now. Immediately. But Sharon rejects is with both his fists.
He wants a Greater Israel, the extension of the settlements,
and, eventually, the elimination of the Palestinian presence
west of the Jordan.
The assertion of Ehud Barak that Arafat
has rejected his own peace plan is a blatant lie, that has caused
a historical disaster. Barak's "generous offers" were
far from the sensible solution.
Now, as before, Arafat is the only person
capable of signing a peace agreement and convince his people
to accept and implement it. No other Palestinian leader capable
of doing so is to be seen on the horizon. Leadership of the Palestinian
people will not pass into the hands of the "moderates",
who will look like collaborators and accomplices to the murder,
but into the hands of the extremists, fanatics thirsting for
revenge.
The murder of Arafat is the murder of
all chances for peace.
That is a crime against the Israeli people.
It will condemn us to making war for decades, perhaps for generations
to come, perhaps forever. The moral, social and economic decline
that we are experiencing now everywhere in Israel will drag Israel
down to new depths and to the emigration of many.
The dead Arafat will become a legend
of heroism to his people and a new Che Guevara to the world.
His mistakes will be forgotten. For future generations of Palestinians,
he will become a role model. Hundreds of millions of Arabs and
Muslims, from Morocco to Indonesia, will compare their own leaders
to the dead Arafat, and the comparison will be fatal.
In the eyes of these hundreds of millions,
Israel and Jews will become a synonym of betrayal, killing and
lying. The poisonous plant of anti-Semitism will bloom as never
before. Already we are tasting a small sample of this
If this disaster happens, all the government
will share the blame. Not one minister will be acquitted. Neither
Ben-Eliezer, nor Peres, nor any of their colleagues. Nor the
army officers who cooperated and even pushed the political leadership.
Nor the members of the Knesset, whether belonging to the coalition
or the opposition, who kept quite during the recent months. Nor
the correspondents and commentators, who turned themselves into
government and army spokesmen. Nor the professors and intellectuals,
who saw and were silent. All of them will bear the responsibility.
This is the last minute to get up and
shout: NO!
Uri Avnery
has closely followed the career of Sharon for four decades. Over
the years, he has written three extensive biographical essays
about him, two (1973, 1981) with his cooperation. Avnery is featured
in the new book, The
Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent.
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