ARAFAT
IS STILL A "WASTE OF SKIN"
By
Geoff Metcalf
September
23, 2002
NewsWithViews.com
In February I wrote, "Yasser Arafat is an empty
robe and a waste of skin. He is a terrorist, a murderer and a disingenuous,
duplicitous two-faced liar. He does not have the capacity to do what we
want him to do (even if he wanted to, which, I submit, he doesn't)."
"Yasser cannot control, manage or instruct Hamas,
Islamic Jihad nor any other saber-rattling, bomb-throwing, fundamentalist
terrorist group. If he tried to move on his terrorist operatives, he would
do so at his own peril. In other words, if he really leaned on Hamas et
al, he wouldn't have to worry about Ariel Sharon putting a hit out on
him ... Hamas would do it. Is that clear enough?" I asked.
I recall reading a piece on the radio written by
a Christian Professor. These facts have been posted to multiple web sites
since April 2001.
When Benjamin Netanyahu was asked (in an interview)
about Israel's occupation of Arab lands -- his response was "It's our
land." Notwithstanding reporters shock and amazement, HE WAS AND IS RIGHT.
The Professor lists twenty key points that 'should' provide perspective
to Jew and non-Jew alike. Although the full list [http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/history_20020508.html]
is compelling the first two items are arguably the most significant.
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Israel became
a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying
themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after
the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E.,
the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with
a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest
in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has
been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any
Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem,
they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not
come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times
in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once
in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem.
Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
8. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the
Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising
to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing
an Israeli soldier.
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed
or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast
Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs
is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or
integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely
absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost.
Israel defended itself each time and won.
14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the destruction
of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the
West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied
them.
Clinton refused to accept the facts in evidence
about Arafat because of his counterintuitive fantasy that Yasser would/could
provide a foundation for the fiction of a Clinton legacy with peace in
the Mideast.
The Bush team, I suspect (and hope), is way more
realistic. They know Arafat is a key component of "the problem" not the
solution. The mutually exclusive component to Mideast peace has always
been peaceful co-existence and recognition of Israel. Arafat won't/can't
swallow that pill.
Sunday Arafat vowed never to surrender to Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He has refused to hand over 50 suspected
militants who Israel says are holed up with him in his devastated presidential
headquarters in the city of Ramallah.
Despite his defiant trash talk the reality check
is Arafat is more isolated politically than at any time since his 1994
return from exile. The only thing preventing Israel from taking those
50 militant suspects is the political want to NOT kill Arafat.
Arafat is a non-player in Mideast politics now.
He is less significant than a flea or tick...although he remains a minor
annoyance (not unlike a small bite inflicted by those pests).
Yasser's symbol of power in Ramallah has been reduced
to rubble. Whatever power Arafat may have squandered over the years is
now non existent.
© 2002 Geoff Metcalf
- All Rights Reserved
