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Arafat The Monster
on the plight of Arafat's victims. (That
is, when they mention them — which
Plett's teary bon voyage to Arafat did
not.)
And what about those victims? Why
were they scarcely remembered in this
Arafat deathwatch?
How is it possible to reflect on
Arafat's most enduring legacy — the
rise of modern terrorism — without
recalling the legions of men, women,
and children whose lives he and his fol-
lowers destroyed? If Osama bin Laden
were on his deathbed, would we neg-
lect to mention all those he murdered
The Mourning
on 9-11?
It would take an encyclopedia to cat-
Some journalists couldn't wait for
alog
all of the evil Arafat committed.
Arafat's actual death to begin weeping
But
that
is no excuse for not trying to
for him. Take the BBC's Barbara Plett,
recall
at
least
some of it.
who burst into tears on the day he was
Perhaps
his
signal contribution to the
airlifted out of the West Bank.
practice of political
terror was the
introduction of
warfare against
children. On one
black date in May
1974, three PLO
terrorists slipped
from Lebanon into
the northern Israeli
town of Ma'alot.
They murdered
two parents and a
child whom they
found at home,
then seized a local
school, taking
more than 100
boys and girls
hostage and threat-
ening to kill them
unless
a
number
of
imprisoned
terror-
"When the helicopter carrying the
ists
were
released.
frail old man rose above his ruined
When Israeli troops attempted a res-
compound," Plett reported from
cue, the terrorists exploded hand
Ramallah, "I started to cry." Normal
grenades and opened fire on the stu-
people don't weep for brutal murderers,
dents. By the time the horror ended,
but Plett made it clear that her empa-
25 people were dead; 21 of them were
thy for Arafat — whom she praised as
children.
"a symbol of Palestinian unity, stead-
Thirty years later, no one speaks of
fastness, and resistance" — was heart-
Ma'alot
anymore. The dead children
felt:
have been forgotten. Everyone knows
"I remember well when the Israelis
re-conquered the West Bank more than Arafat's name, but who ever recalls the
names of his victims?
two years ago, how they drove their
So let us recall them: Ilana
tanks and bulldozers into Mr. Arafat's
Turgeman. Rachel Aputa. Yocheved
headquarters, trapping him in a few
Mazoz. Sarah Ben-Shim'on. Yona
rooms, and throwing a military curtain
Sabag. Yafa Cohen. Shoshana Cohen.
around Ramallah.
Michal Sitrok. Malka Amrosy. Aviva
"I remember how Palestinians
Saada. Yocheved Diyi. Yaakov Levi.
admired his refusal to flee under fire.
Yaakov Kabla. Rina Cohen. Ilana
They told me: 'Our leader is sharing
Ne'eman. Sarah Madar. Tamar Dahan.
Jeff Jacoby writes for the Globe in
our pain, we are all under the same
Boston. His e-mail address is
Sarah Soper. Lili Morad. David Madar.
siege.' And so was I."
Yehudit
Madar. The 21 dead children
jacoby@globe.com
Such is the state of journalism at the
This commentary was distributed by the
of
Ma'alot
— 21 of the thousands of
BBC, whose reporters do not seem to
New York Times Syndicate.
who
died
at
Arafat's command.
have any trouble reporting, dry-eyed,
Boston
y
asses Arafat
died at age
75, lying in
bed surrounded by
familiar faces. He left
this world peacefully,
unlike the thousands
of victims he sent to
JEFF
early graves.
JACOBY
In a better world,
Special
the
Palestine
Commentary
Liberation
Organization
chief
0
would have met his end on a gallows,
hanged for mass murder much as the
Nazi chiefs were hanged at Nuremberg.
In a better world, the French presi-
dent would not have paid a visit to the
bedside of such a monster. In a better
world, George Bush would not have
said, on hearing the first
reports that Arafat had
died, "God bless his
soul."
God bless his soul?
What a grotesque idea!
Bless the soul of the
man who brought mod-
ern terrorism to the
world? Who sent his
agents to slaughter ath-
letes at the Olympics,
blow airliners out of the
sky, bomb schools and
pizzerias, machine-gun
passengers in airline ter-
minals? Who lied, cheat-
ed and stole without
compunction? Who
inculcated the vilest cul-
ture of Jew-hatred since
the Third Reich?
Human beings might stoop to bless a
creature so evil — as indeed Arafat was
blessed, with money, deference, even a
Nobel Prize — but God, I am quite
sure, will damn him for eternity.
Arafat always inspired flights of non-
sense from Western journalists, and his
last two weeks were no exception.
Derek Brown wrote in the Guardian
that Arafat's "undisputed courage as a
guerrilla leader" was exceeded only by
his extraordinary courage" as a peace
negotiator. But it is an odd kind of
courage that expresses itself in shooting
unarmed victims — or in signing peace
accords and then flagrantly violating
their terms.
Another commentator, columnist
Gwynne Dyer, asked, "So what did
Arafat do right?" The answer: He drew
worldwide attention to the Palestinian
cause, "for the most part by successful
acts of terror." In other words, butcher-
ing innocent human beings was
"right," since it served an ulterior polit-
ical motive.
No doubt that thought brings daily
comfort to all those who were forced to
bury a child, parent, or spouse because
of Arafat's "successful" terrorism.
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11/26
2004
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