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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Arafat: The Greatest Deceiver and His Legacy

Nadene Goldfoot                                                        
Egyptian-born Arafat (24 August 1929- 11 November 2004)  was the head of the PLO and Fatah.  He had been the architect of terrorism against Israel.  The PLO was founded in 1964 and it's explicit goal had been to replace Israel;  not to live alongside it.  "Arafat was born in Cairo, Egypt. His father, Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini, was a Palestinian from Gaza City, whose mother, Yasser's paternal grandmother, was Egyptian.  Could it be he was related to the Haj Amin al-Husseini, Sherif of Jerusalem called the Grand Mufti?   He was the worst instigator of violence, causing much starting in 1929 at a time when Emir Feisal was all for Jewish immigration and creation of a Jewish Homeland.  No.  He said that "his full name was Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa. Mohammed Abdel Rahman was his first name, Abdel Raouf was his father's name and Arafat his grandfather's. Al-Qudwa was the name of his tribe and al-Husseini was that of the clan to which the al-Qudwas belonged. al-Husseini was based in Gaza and should not be confused with the well-known, but unrelated, al-Husayni clan of Jerusalem

1987 The Islamic Resistance Movement called Hamas was created and won in the Palestinian Authority Parliamentary elections by January 2006.  It was an outgrowth of Fatah, the outgrowth of the PLO.  

In 1990 new opportunities rose up when the First Intifada ended and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat claimed that he endorsed the UN Resolution 242.

Israel's enemies seemed ready to lay down their arms and make peace.  Israel was prepared to take on this opportunity and were full of hope and optimism as we all thought that the Palestinians were, also.

Then in 1992 the PLO and Israeli representatives began secret talks in Oslo, Norway.  Arafat claimed he had renounced violence and would stop inciting his people against Israel.  He even recognized Israel's right to exist and accepted a 2-state solution.
                                                                           
Rabin, Clinton, Arafat signing the Oslo Accords on White House Lawn
1993, September 13 was when Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin of Labor Party,  shook hands on the White House lawn and signed the DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON INTERIM SELF-GOVERNMENT ARRANGEMENTS.  This laid out gradual steps for Israeli withdrawals from land.  The PLO were to stop all incitement and all violence.  They were to dismantle terrorist groups and eliminate the clauses in its CHARTER that called for the destruction of Israel.  Jerusalem's position, refugees, final borders, settlements and security were to be negotiated 5 years later in 1998.  That that time it was figured that Israel would be assured that its former enemy had really renounced violence and the goal of destroying the Jewish state.

In return, Israel and the USA forgave their past and acknowledged the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people and agreed to give the Palestinians self-rule.  However, the process of getting agreements didn't go well.

Arafat was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in World Peace for his efforts in signing the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.Rabin (1 March 1922 Jerusalem-4 November 1995 Tel Aviv in assassination) Rabin and Clinton also received Nobel prizes for peace.  
                                                                         
1996, January 30th and Yasser Arafat spoke to an Arab audience in Stockholm, Sweden and said, "You understand that we plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State.  We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion....I have no use for Jews;  they are and remain Jews."  

1997 was the year that the Palestinian Authority (PA) governed  98% of the civilian population.  By now Palestinian incitement and terrorism had escalated  which led Israel to delay further withdrawals from sections of land.

The Palestinians turned around and questioned Israel's commitment to Oslo because of their delays.  Calls to violence by official Palestinian media continued, agencies and religious and political leaders led many Israelis to question Arafat's sincerity.

1998, October 23rd, 5 years after a peace agreement, and the WYE RIVER MEMORANDUM was drafted to clarify each side's ongoing obligations and to address Palestinian violations of previous agreements to end incitement which had never ended but only got worse.  The obligation of amending the PLO Charter had not been fulfilled nor had dismantling terrorist groups.  Further Israeli withdrawals were tied to Palestinians fulfilling these promises and obligations.
                                                                         
PM Ehud Barak, President Bill Clinton, Yasser Arafat
2000, July 11-25  at Camp David, Arafat rejected Israel's peace offer of a 2-state solution that was endorsed by President Clinton and made no counteroffer.  The 2nd intifada, a campaign of terrorism, erupted 2 months later.  Barak was a Prime Minister from the Labor Party, born Feb. 12, 1942 on a kibbutz in Israel.

2000, September 28-2005  and the Oslo process came to an end when many extremist Palestinian groups backed by Arafat and the PA launched a terrorist war against Israel.  They had taken away the peace agenda from ordinary Palestinians and forced Israel into a self-defense mode.  It has escalated into roadside explosives, ambushes and shootings and suicide bombings.  47% of Israeli casualties were from suicide bombings targeting civilians in restaurants, dance clubs, synagogues, parties and public buses.  Snipers shot people on the highways.  Attackers went into home and launched rockets into schoolyards.  This is why ground level apartments have bars on windows.

 Sept 28, 2000 to Dec 31, 2005, 25,770 terrorist attacks had hit Israel.  147 suicide bombings occurred.  1,084 people were killed and 7,454 were injured.  82% of the dead and wounded were Israeli civilians throughout 2000 to 2004.

2003 was when the UN, EU, USA and Russia endorsed a new plan called THE ROAD MAP.  This was used to revive the peace process.  Negotiations on this failed so Israel started a policy of unilateral (decided by themselves only) withdrawals from pockets of land.

" Arafat's legacy has left him highly scorned and villified for leading the Palestinians into the Al-Aqsa Intifada, a war with Israel that lasted nearly five years from 2000 to 2005 and claimed thousands of lives on both sides of the conflict.
                                                                       
Khaled Mashal with ideology of Muslim brotherhood

2006:  Hamas won the elections of the PA with leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from 1987 to 2004 and Khaled Mashal from 2004 to the present.  They follow the Muslim Brotherhood ideals and acted as opposition to PLO.  Israel will exist until Islam will obliterate it.  there is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad (Holy War).  This is from the Hamas charter.  

Arafat's  statement of goals to destroy Israel turns out to be the only honest thing he has ever muttered.  He had no intention of pursuing a road of peace.   This seems to be the same with both Fatah and Hamas today.  Israel cannot afford to take the word of Palestinians as the gospel, but must look beyond what is verbally said to what is in their hearts and minds that comes out sooner or later. 
                                                                   
Widow Suha and possibly daughter Zahwa Arafat
In 1990, Arafat married Suha Tawil, a Palestinian Christian when he was 61 and Suha, 27. Before their marriage, she was working as a secretary for Arafat in Tunis after her mother introduced her to him in France. Prior to Arafat's marriage, he adopted fifty Palestinian war orphans. Arafat narrowly escaped death again on 7 April 1992, when anAir Bissau aircraft he was a passenger on crash-landed in the Libyan Desert during a sandstorm. Two pilots and an engineer were killed; Arafat was bruised and shaken.
During her marriage, Suha tried to leave Arafat on many occasions, but was not permitted to by her husband. She views her marriage to Arafat as a mistake. Suha said she regrets the marriage and given the choice again, would not have wed him.  As 2-faced as Arafat, after he 
died she acted like an unhappy and indignant widow and insisted he had been poisoned by 
Israel with polonium  and had many tests taken.  It is assumed by Israel and the USA that he 
died from AIDS.  

On 24 July 1995, Arafat's wife Suha gave birth to a daughter in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. She was named Zahwa after Arafat's deceased mother.  It's hard to believe but his daughter will be 20 in July.  

Resource:  Israel 101 by StandWithUs p. 21, 24.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Camp_David_Summit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak

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