Arafat's Legacy
He was single-minded, but not about statehood or a real peace.
Back to Yasser's Page
washingtonpost.com
Monday, November 15, 2004; Page A25The outpouring of tributes to Yasser Arafat is marked by two themes: (1) his greatness as creator, sustainer and leader of the Palestinian cause, and (2) the abrupt opening of an opportunity for its success now that he is gone.
The fawning world leaders saying this seem oblivious to the obvious paradox. If he was such a great leader, how is it that he left his people so destitute, desperate, wounded and bereft that only his passing gives them a hope for a fulfillment of their deepest aspirations?
Arafat's apologists explain this by saying that is because he had one weakness: indecisiveness. In the end, he just could not pull the trigger. When offered the deal of the century by Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000, he was somehow too conflicted, too ambivalent to say yes.
Ambivalent? Nonsense. Yasser Arafat was supremely decisive and single-minded. He was not complex and, regarding Israel's fate, never conflicted. Indeed the reason for his success, such as it was -- creating the Palestinian movement from which he derived fortune, fame and reverence -- was precisely his single-mindedness. Not about Palestinian statehood -- if that was his objective, he could have had his state years ago -- but about the elimination of Jewish statehood.
That was the theme of his entire life. Yes, he signed interim deals to get a foothold in Palestine. But that was always with the objective of continuing the fight from a better strategic position. It was never to conclude a lasting compromise or real peace with Israel.
That is why he died so far from his promised land. This promised land was never the West Bank and Gaza. Arafat founded Fatah in 1959 -- eight years before Israel even acquired these territories. His objective then, and until the day he died, was a Palestinian state built on the ruins of an eradicated Israel.
Bill Clinton was astonished when Arafat rejected the offer of a West Bank and Gaza state, turning down the opportunity to be its George Washington. Americans never understood that Arafat saw himself completely differently: as an anti-imperialist revolutionary in the mold of Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro. Like them, his motto was "revolution unto victory." Total victory. No half loaf. And given Israel's stubborn refusal to die, Arafat's cause became sustaining the struggle -- the revolution -- indefinitely, almost as an end in itself.
It is for this reason that, while Arafat's death does open a first chance for peace since he took over the Palestinian movement four decades ago, that chance remains remote. Why? Because the revolution continues. Arafat made sure it would survive him. He created Palestinian nationalism and shaped it in a revolutionary mold that will take years, perhaps decades, to undo.
It is a legacy in two parts: means and ends. The means? Violence. Arafat invented modern terrorism: airplane hijackings, kidnappings and the spectacular mass murder, like the Olympic massacre of 1972. Others had tried it. Arafat perfected it. He turned terrorism into a brilliantly successful political instrument, a vehicle to international recognition and respect. The man who murdered more innocent Jews than anyone since Hitler died an international hero. The president of France bowed to his casket. The secretary general ordered U.N. flags to fly at half-staff.
Arafat also bequeathed a legacy of ends: uncompromising, irredentist ends. He didn't just reject any settlement that would leave Israel intact, thereby setting a precedent that any successor dare not violate. He also raised a new generation to ensure that rejection. Deploying every instrument of propaganda -- television, radio, newspapers and, most importantly, schools and summer camps for children -- his Palestinian Authority fed his people a diet of such virulent anti-Semitism and denial of the Jewish connection with the land that no successor will even be in position to contemplate breaking Arafat's rejectionist precedent.
Arafat's most cherished achievement was to so poison the well that the revolution -- until total victory -- continues long after he is gone. As soon as he died, the most murderous terrorist wing of his Fatah movement, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, changed its name to the Yasser Arafat Martyrs Brigades.
They understood their master. Which is why the prospects for peace upon his death are far more distant than the naifs (who got him wrong all through his life) now insist. Arafat's legacy -- the romanticization of violence, the rejection of Israel, the indoctrination of a new generation in intolerance and hatred -- will require a long time to undo. It will require years, perhaps even generations. It will require brave new Palestinian leaders who are the very antithesis of Yasser Arafat.
letters@charleskrauthammer.com
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
Reply 1 - Posted by: Rob Roy, 11/15/2004 6:21:13 AM
Ah, good old Western political and media elites, still frozen in the time-warp of the Swingin' Sixties like pre-historic beasts preserved in amber.
To assuage their guilt feelings over living in prosperous societies -- which had frequently practiced colonialism (Europe) or had a history that included slavery and oppression of the Indians (US) -- young 60s liberals/radicals romanticized every twerp Third World "revolutionary" thug/despot/dicator who thumbed his nose at Evil Uncle Sam and Western Civ in general -- Mao, Ho, Castro, Che Guevara, Idi Amin and, certainly Yasser Arab-fat (back at home, American radic-lib students and their guilt-ridden liberal elders got the same kind of vicarious thrill masochistically lionizing the Panthers -- read Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flack Catcher").
40 years later, many of these people now hold authority positions in government, media, and the academic world -- but also still hold their misguided youthful, romantic notions of "revolutionary heroism." Witness the outpouring of affection for Arafat -- call it the rest of the world's + our liberal elites' response to the Reagan funeral. They gritted their teeth during the latter -- but at last! Someone they can GENUINELY mourn for!
Reply 2 - Posted by: tomwright, 11/15/2004 7:06:13 AM
Lets not forget that the ''arabs' still practice slavery, support terrorism, do not recognise women as totally human, all of which Arafat supported and most likely practiced. For Forty years he formented hatred of Israel and showed the world just how little he valued human life, of course I believe he was less than human.
Reply 3 - Posted by: Dolley Madison, 11/15/2004 7:11:09 AM
Take note of those who fawn; they are contemptuous of our freedom, and wish us to have a dictator over us.
Reply 4 - Posted by: ole buzzard, 11/15/2004 7:15:03 AM
Krauthammer's comparison of Arafat to Hitler is fitting and appropriate.
We won a great victory against evil last week (Yes, evil. Liberalism is every bit as evil as Communism!) and the death of Arafat, but the fight goes on, and will until Armageddon. Evil will exist as long as man is imperfect.
Reply 5 - Posted by: ldroshine, 11/15/2004 7:30:47 AM
Put arafat with his no.1 fan barbra streisand - gosh, what an adorable couple!
Reply 6 - Posted by: VRWconspiracy, 11/15/2004 7:33:36 AM
There is no monster so evil that the left will not worship him. In fact, it is evil itself that the left worships.
Reply 7 - Posted by: LittleHoodedMonk, 11/15/2004 7:59:41 AM
'Arafat's apologists explain this by saying that is because he had one weakness: indecisiveness. In the end, he just could not pull the trigger.'
Tell that to ALL the innocent woman and children that were MURDERED by his command. Like any other IMPOTENT dictator, his greatest joy came in having the 'power' to direct others to torture and kill at will. One only has to look into Iraq to see what havoc another follower of death (EVIL) rained on his own people, with the help of his own insane sons, UN/EU and 'International Red Cressant' complicity. To me, Arafat was just another Jack Kevorkian, without the education.
Reply 8 - Posted by: Hermoine, 11/15/2004 8:09:22 AM
As always, Krauthammer nails the truth and calls out the accomplices to Arafat's evil all at the same time.
Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan should go down in history as evil men who, time and again, coddled dictators while innocent men, women and children died.
Reply 9 - Posted by: gop juggernaut redux, 11/15/2004 8:20:27 AM
The fact that much of the world worships this child-killer and at the same time calls our president Hitler tells you all you need to know about the morals of 'the international community.' If they hate the US, I consider it an honor.
Reply 10 - Posted by: Dolphish, 11/15/2004 8:47:00 AM
#8--Add Jimmy Carter to that list. I've grown tired of those who claim, "Jimmy Carter was a poor president but a great person." Great people recognize evil where it exists. Jimmy had a blind spot for Marxist dictators around the globe, including Arafat. Carter's enabling of these dirtbags have left the world a less-safe place.
Reply 11 - Posted by: Hermoine, 11/15/2004 8:51:49 AM
#10 -- I wholeheartedly and agree, but I don't think Jimmy had a blindspot, I think he had perfect 20/20 vision and knew, each time, exactly who he was dealing with. Go read the book, The Real Jimmy Carter. He is a very competitive, spiteful little man. He has never gotten over the total rejection of the American people and has used every weapon in his arsenal to get even with the people who THREW him out of office. (Oh, and it consumed him to no end that Reagan was so successful and showed him to be the most incompetent, petty President we ever had.)
Reply 12 - Posted by: federale, 11/15/2004 9:17:42 AM
Peanut Jimmy should have spent some of his Nobel Prize money and air-dropped tons of peanuts on the Arafat funeral procession to emphasize his compassion for the Islamostalinist.
Reply 13 - Posted by: Dixie, 11/15/2004 9:18:54 AM
I thought most of this article was absolutely correct, but there is one small quibble that I have with it.
I think Arafat was either obsessed with personal power or terribly afraid of his fellow terrorists. Why else would he resist getting medical help in France for so long, and why else would he have refused to reveal the key to the source of his terrorist money?
Reply 14 - Posted by: lana720, 11/15/2004 9:23:13 AM
A terrorist by any other name is still a TERRORIST!
Great article, Dr. Krauthammer. BTW, I love the way you mop up the floor with Juan Williams.
Reply 15 - Posted by: Douglas DC, 11/15/2004 10:15:55 AM
I love watching the Krauthammer/Willams debates.
Never mess with a Disabled Genius-it all goes
to the Brain.
Reply 16 - Posted by: whitesubaru, 11/15/2004 10:39:56 AM
read where the French want to name streets after him......maybe they should name streets after Hitler also
Reply 17 - Posted by: Christie, 11/15/2004 10:57:20 AM
Fifteen said it...and I see the gap growing in our country, the gap between the 'ends justify the means' entitled adult children and the grown ups.
Arafat seemed to be a child that refused to grow up and take responsibility for himself, his people and the terrorists that he helped to create. His 'casue was his jsutification. Yes, there is a long, hard road ahead.
God bless Mr. Krauthammer. He tells the truth so well.
Reply 18 - Posted by: gop_guys, 11/15/2004 11:09:58 AM
I don't think it's all that complicated. The million dollar checks would have stopped if Arafat had agreed to peace.
The ''love of money'' is the root of all evil.
Reply 19 - Posted by: berlin, 11/15/2004 11:10:07 AM
Dr. Krauthammer nails it as usual. I am just amazed to see how foreigners and even some Americans fawn over this certified murderer and terrorist.
Reply 20 - Posted by: weenerdog, 11/15/2004 11:11:22 AM
I wonder what the IQ of a child of Dr. Krauthammer and Dr. Rice would be? Off the scale? The mere thought boggles the mind!!!
Reply 21 - Posted by: ramona, 11/15/2004 11:27:56 AM
Ah, the joy of reading Krauthammer - finding new words. Today it is ''irredentist'' -
One who advocates the recovery of territory culturally or historically related to one's nation but now subject to a foreign government.
It has made me sick these past days, watching how world ''leaders'' fawned over the monster Arafat.
We should pray that God will clean out the poisoned well, as Mr. K put it, so that a new generation of Palestinians can drink the pure, clean water of freedom.
Ramona (the Pest)
Reply 22 - Posted by: pineywoods, 11/15/2004 11:28:17 AM
It's not only the IQ. It has a lot to do with common sense in addition to the IQ.
Reply 23 - Posted by: nancyb, 11/15/2004 11:38:31 AM
And as many such single-minded empire builders, he did not die a poor man.
Reply 24 - Posted by: The Road Apple, 11/15/2004 12:19:10 PM
Just consider the feelings of all those widowed female goats. So sad. /s
Reply 25 - Posted by: pinger, 11/15/2004 1:30:23 PM
Kerry, Daschle, Arafat....the world is becoming a better place. As far as Arafat's legacy? The legacy of evil is always the same.
Reply 26 - Posted by: Harmony1, 11/15/2004 1:31:54 PM
I'll bet that Arafat had *food tasters*, knowing that he couldn't trust his 'most trusted'!
Another great article by Charles Krauthammer, an American Treasure.
Reply 27 - Posted by: placergolddigger, 11/15/2004 1:49:49 PM
The UN has the flags at Half-mast for the Monster Arafat! Does this include the American flag and Israel Flag? When will the glorious United Nations burn the Stars and Stripes on their steps? It is only a matter of time.
Reply 28 - Posted by: nattering_nabob, 11/15/2004 3:47:08 PM
Actually, every Arafat-lite/like replacement will have to be offed until the Palestinians have somebody reasonable leading them - which may be never.
Reply 29 - Posted by: oudry, 11/15/2004 5:13:16 PM
And on the lite side...keeping in line with their love of Jerry Lewis, etc. the French have proposed nameing a street in Paris for Arafat. La Lunacy knows no bounds.
Reply 30 - Posted by: The Chairman, 11/15/2004 7:59:56 PM
Arafat's Legacy:
1. A destitute murder crazed populace.
2. The use of terror as a weapon of foreign policy.
3. Massive theft, corruption, and murder, of his own people and Israelis.
4. A colossal fraud that there is such a thing as a Palestinian and their savagery has earned them the right to take part of another country.
5. A revilement by their own brothers who don't want them anywhere near close.
What a legacy! It is a small scale version of Nazi Germany.
Reply 31 - Posted by: Mo Gumbo, 11/15/2004 8:35:55 PM
Arafat's legacy should be the annihilation of the palistinians. As Dr. K rightly points out, they are the well that Arafat poisoned.
Reply 32 - Posted by: Rob Roy, 11/15/2004 9:17:42 PM
#30: "What a legacy! It is a small scale version of Nazi Germany."
Not surprising, given the close, cozy relationship between Arab-fat's uncle and mentor, the accursed Amin-al-Haj Husseini, the so-called "Grand Mufti" of Jersualem, and Der Fuhrer. The Mufti -- who had spent the 1920s and 30s stirring up trouble for the occupying british, organizing pogroms against the Jews (including one particularly horrific one in August, 1929) and terrorizing his own Arabs into acquiesence via hundreds of murders, fled the Holy Land in 1942, went to Berlin, pledged undying loyalty to Hitler's cause and offered to help carry out a "Final Solution" in Palestine, made propaganda broadcasts to the Arab world urging revolt against Britan and solidarity with Germany, and helped recruit a Bosnian Muslim division for the SS. He should have been hanged after the war -- but was protected by the Egyptians and the Saudis.
A little something to remember next time an Arab propagandist whines that Israel's establishment was the West's effort to pay for its Holocause complicity guilt at the expense of "innocent" Arabs who supposedly "had nothing to do with the Holocaust."
THE HELL THEY DIDN'T.
Reply 33 - Posted by: I Hate Liars, 11/15/2004 10:14:55 PM
I am always amazed when these murdering dictators whither and die just like us ordinary mortals. I bet that was really a sight to behold when ol' Amafart came face to face with Allah and found out that his "god" is really a nasty old woman with a really bad attitude who looks just like Helen Thomas.
Reply 34 - Posted by: barbill4, 11/16/2004 12:32:47 AM
The 'Hammer couldn't be more right.
Mamamoose
