Yasser Arafat's greatness
In mourning the death of Yasser Arafat, let me quote extracts from an article by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian Weekly in which he gets the historical context exactly right, in explaining Arafat's greatness:
"In the days when Britain was being forced to give up one colony after another, the phrase "father of the nation" was much in vogue. Julius Nyerere in DTanzania, Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, and Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia were among the many who won this informal title, not just from journalists in search of a label but, more importantly, from their own people. As teachers, clerics or trade unionists who became political leaders, they were seen as the chief architects of the struggle for independence.
"Forty years on from the age of decolonisation, Yasser Arafat...can claim that status. In many ways his title is even more deserved. He had to win recognition of the fact that there was such a thing as a Palestinian nation at all. For decades the Arab states and the British, who initially had the mandate to run Palestine, and the Israelis, who moved into the land, refused to accept that there were Palestinian people, let alone a nation.
"Unlike other independence leaders, Arafat was not working in a situation in which the settler community had reached its peak and the metropolitan government that supported them was starting to lose heart. He had to fight against a constantly expanding settler tide linked to a determined government and a rock-hard military, both of which were backed, or at least not opposed, by a world superpower. Nor was the definition of the territory fixed. It was under constant threat of shrinkage and is to this day.
"To hold firm in these conditions, to maintain political unity and keep up his people's morale and resistance under conditions of siege, house demolitions and assassinations, was extraordinary. To move from defensive consolidation and to start to build a nation was nigh impossible. That Arafat has managed to do it and retain the affection of his people, not just as a symbol of independence but as a respected and approachable human being, is a tribute to his greatness."
For some people, Arafat had turned into the ineffective leader of a corrupt territorial government, who had failed to hold out for a decent settlement. In fact what he did to the end, having led his people decades ago into the idea of a reborn Palestine, was to take what he could in territory as the basis for a Palestine that would become a progressive, secular nation in which all faiths can live and breathe. It will come about one day, while the suicidal terror of Hamas --a movement given a kick-start by Israel's Mossad, to rival and undermine PLO -- will take the nation nowhere, and disappear. So will the violent regime of zionist settlerdom, taking its people nowhere.
The "two-state solution" to which everyone on all sides is paying lip service right now, is a non-starter. The "Palestine Territory" is a travesty, with desparate people barely existing, in crumbling ruins in a screaming dialogue of constant suicidal violence. Israel is a grotesque entity in which citizens have had more and more to become racist oppressors, or lurk in a near-fascist state, the aircraft carrier of US imperialism at its most rampant.
So yes, Arafat's death does signal an opportunity for a new direction. The good people of Palestine and Israel, in his name and no doubt with his blessing, can start showing the way to the long and hard but straight road towards the secular democratic state of Palestine, which includes Israel. We can pay tribute to those with courage and vision and perseverance who are secular leaders, to name a random few: Hanan Ashrawi, Saeb Erakat, Uri Avnery, Mordechai Vanunu -- thousands more...
Long live the vision of a secular, democratic Palestine-Israel, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, from Egypt to Syria, and those who would build towards its reality, to become a beacon of modern statehood in a sea of oil-curdled Arab feudalism. Let the Palestinians hang on to every inch of land they have, and go on pressing for more. But they must turn their backs, as must peace-loving Israelis, on what George Bush at a press conference last night pledged to protect: Israel, "as a Jewish state".
Bush -- too ignorant even to realise that Israel has some Muslim and Christian citizens -- has let the cat out of the bag, and the game is up. The EU for instance, can no longer go along with the US in promoting two states: one Palestinian, one "Jewish".
Tony Hall
November 14th 2004
(Thanks Pam)
Tony Hall worked as an Assistant Editor and then Editor of Middle Eastern magazines like "Events", "8 Days" and "Arabia" from 1976 to 1984
In mourning the death of Yasser Arafat, let me quote extracts from an article by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian Weekly in which he gets the historical context exactly right, in explaining Arafat's greatness:
"In the days when Britain was being forced to give up one colony after another, the phrase "father of the nation" was much in vogue. Julius Nyerere in DTanzania, Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, and Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia were among the many who won this informal title, not just from journalists in search of a label but, more importantly, from their own people. As teachers, clerics or trade unionists who became political leaders, they were seen as the chief architects of the struggle for independence.
"Forty years on from the age of decolonisation, Yasser Arafat...can claim that status. In many ways his title is even more deserved. He had to win recognition of the fact that there was such a thing as a Palestinian nation at all. For decades the Arab states and the British, who initially had the mandate to run Palestine, and the Israelis, who moved into the land, refused to accept that there were Palestinian people, let alone a nation.
"Unlike other independence leaders, Arafat was not working in a situation in which the settler community had reached its peak and the metropolitan government that supported them was starting to lose heart. He had to fight against a constantly expanding settler tide linked to a determined government and a rock-hard military, both of which were backed, or at least not opposed, by a world superpower. Nor was the definition of the territory fixed. It was under constant threat of shrinkage and is to this day.
"To hold firm in these conditions, to maintain political unity and keep up his people's morale and resistance under conditions of siege, house demolitions and assassinations, was extraordinary. To move from defensive consolidation and to start to build a nation was nigh impossible. That Arafat has managed to do it and retain the affection of his people, not just as a symbol of independence but as a respected and approachable human being, is a tribute to his greatness."
For some people, Arafat had turned into the ineffective leader of a corrupt territorial government, who had failed to hold out for a decent settlement. In fact what he did to the end, having led his people decades ago into the idea of a reborn Palestine, was to take what he could in territory as the basis for a Palestine that would become a progressive, secular nation in which all faiths can live and breathe. It will come about one day, while the suicidal terror of Hamas --a movement given a kick-start by Israel's Mossad, to rival and undermine PLO -- will take the nation nowhere, and disappear. So will the violent regime of zionist settlerdom, taking its people nowhere.
The "two-state solution" to which everyone on all sides is paying lip service right now, is a non-starter. The "Palestine Territory" is a travesty, with desparate people barely existing, in crumbling ruins in a screaming dialogue of constant suicidal violence. Israel is a grotesque entity in which citizens have had more and more to become racist oppressors, or lurk in a near-fascist state, the aircraft carrier of US imperialism at its most rampant.
So yes, Arafat's death does signal an opportunity for a new direction. The good people of Palestine and Israel, in his name and no doubt with his blessing, can start showing the way to the long and hard but straight road towards the secular democratic state of Palestine, which includes Israel. We can pay tribute to those with courage and vision and perseverance who are secular leaders, to name a random few: Hanan Ashrawi, Saeb Erakat, Uri Avnery, Mordechai Vanunu -- thousands more...
Long live the vision of a secular, democratic Palestine-Israel, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, from Egypt to Syria, and those who would build towards its reality, to become a beacon of modern statehood in a sea of oil-curdled Arab feudalism. Let the Palestinians hang on to every inch of land they have, and go on pressing for more. But they must turn their backs, as must peace-loving Israelis, on what George Bush at a press conference last night pledged to protect: Israel, "as a Jewish state".
Bush -- too ignorant even to realise that Israel has some Muslim and Christian citizens -- has let the cat out of the bag, and the game is up. The EU for instance, can no longer go along with the US in promoting two states: one Palestinian, one "Jewish".
Tony Hall
November 14th 2004
(Thanks Pam)
Tony Hall worked as an Assistant Editor and then Editor of Middle Eastern magazines like "Events", "8 Days" and "Arabia" from 1976 to 1984
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