Terror & Arafat
The articles and news reports I’ve seen so far on Yasir Arafat have focussed on the man as statesman, but if no one else will, I’ll just point out that he was a terrorist and a murderer and a major impediment to peace in the Middle East. The excesses of Israel over the last fifty years, especially the last twenty, perhaps, indeed condemn that state, for all its status as a democracy, as being among the oppressors, rather than the opposite, which it had been meant to be. Nevertheless, we should never forget Munich, neither should we forget the Achille Lauro, nor countless hijackings and other indiscriminate murders, including the suicide-bomber phenomenon we presently face around the world. These are all the heritage of Yasir Arafat, as much as any Palestinian state may yet be. I wish for peace in the Middle East, a homeland for the Palestinians, and security for the state of Israel. Maybe now something more than handshakes and signed treaties can be accomplished.