Arafat has died.

by IPSC - Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign Thu Nov 11, 2004 14:59

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign wishes to commiserate with the Palestinian people on the death of their democratically elected president, Yasser Arafat. We extend our deepest and warmest sympathies to the Delegate General of Palestine in Ireland, Dr Ali Halimeh.

Yasser Arafat had many critics, but nobody can deny that he was one of the iconic figures of the second half of the twentieth century. At a time when the words "Palestine" and "Palestinian" were on nobody's lips, he spoke them loud and fearlessly before the powerful of the earth until the cause of Palestine was adopted by all those who believe in the right of oppressed peoples to be heard, to be respected, and to attain full self-determination. His Nobel Peace Prize was, arguably, more richly earned by him than by the two Israelis with whom he shared it.

That he was ultimately unable to lead his people to self-determination is due as much to the resurgence of naked imperialism in our time as to his own miscalculations and misjudgments, such as his overriding of the Madrid process, or his misplaced trust in the mendacious and cynical Bill Clinton. Those who claim that these errors negate his right to an honoured place in the history of his people will, we believe, be proved wrong.

Towards the end of his life President Arafat's authority may have waned, but not the affection in which he was held by the vast majority of Palestinians as the living symbol of their cause and their nationhood. After the failed Camp David summit in 2000, he was demonised by the Clinton administration and western media for not accepting a supposed 95% of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, when according to Robert Malley, a Clinton insider, what was being proposed verbally was in effect a prison where the prisoners inhabit most of the space inside while the jailers control all key areas. Arafat rightly saw through and rejected this imposture.

Much is made of the phony parallel between Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon, two old men "standing in the way of peace". The truth is that Sharon, like his Israeli predecessors, has always been a rejectionist, whereas Arafat chose the path of negotiation. It was this more than anything else that caused the war criminal Sharon to imprison him in his Ramallah office and to pretend that the Israelis had "no negotiating partner", a claim they will no doubt continue to parrot until they have found a Quisling willing to sell out the inalienable rights of the Palestinians. In the final analysis, President Arafat's crime in the eyes of Sharon, Barak, Clinton, Bush and the rest is that he was unwilling to be that Quisling. For this his memory will be cherished by his beleagured people.

It is to be hoped that the Palestinian people will be allowed to elect a successor who will preside over their long-denied transition to peace, justice and self-determination.

www.ipsc.ie
email: [email protected]
Further details contact Raymond Deane at 01-2841295 or 086 8124085

by IPSC - Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign Thu Nov 11, 2004 15:01

Also, if you live in Dublin, a book of condolences for the death of Yasser Arafat has been opened at the office of the General Delegation of Palestine, 42 Adelaide Road, Dublin 2 (01-6618028).

by Fionn - Irish Republican Socialist Party Thu Nov 11, 2004 15:34

Despite supporting the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine over his Fatah movement, the Irish Republican Socialist Party took the occasion of the death of Yasser Arafat to reiterate its solidarity with the struggle people of Palestine. In a statement from the IRSP's International Department, spokesperson Peadar Baile said of Arafat's death in Paris at the age of 75;

"Arafat has long been a symbol for the struggle of the Palestinian people, both within their homeland and abroad. And, because he is such a symbol, the IRSP believes it is important to take this occasion to reiterate our solidarity with the Palestinian people, in their struggle for national liberation and socialism in Palestine.

"Arafat was also a scapegoat for the Zionist occupying Palestine and their American puppet-masters. In response to their own propaganda, rather than political reality, Arafat had been held personally accountable by US imperialism and the Zionists, for the breakdown of peace talks and the continuing initifada. The reality was that Arafat had long been prepared to compromise and capitulate to Zionism on most key issues for years and, far from being the revolutionary voice of Palestine, represented the reformist section of the Palestinian community.

"The Zionists and their American allies also held Arafat responsible for the continued use of suicide bombing attacks on the Zionists, when it was clear that their destruction of the Palestinian Authority and undermining Arafat left him unable to control the tactics of Hamas or various militant factions within the PLO, despite his own desire to reach an accord with Israel, regardless of the cost.

The reality is that it was Ariel Sharon who personally and deliberately provoked the outbreak of a renewed initifada with his visit to Temple Mount. Moreover, it was the Zionists complete failure to negotiate in good faith and to meet their obligations under the Oslo Accord that caused peace talks to collapse.

"We in the IRSP, therefore, raise our voices in solidarity with the Palestinian people and we pay tribute to Arafat, as a symbol of their continued struggle for national liberation and social justice. With Arafat's death causing him to leave the political stage, the Palestinian people will be searching for new leadership. We encourage them to recognise
that nothing will be changed through attempts at compromise and conciliation towards the Zionists. The Zionists will never respect Palestinian sovereignty. The Way Forward, as the PFLP have said, lies through the defeat of Zionism and the establishment of a unified, secular, democratic, and socialist Palestine.

He concluded, "Accordingly, we in the IRSP do not mourn the end of the undemocratic and reformist tactics of Arafat, but we grieve at the sense of loss experienced by the people of Palestine and we salute their determination in carrying their struggle forward in the wake of Arafat's death."

by redjade Thu Nov 11, 2004 15:46

Left critics of Oslo, and I am one, have long attacked Arafat for his agreement to a plan reminiscent of the 1960's-era South African plan for the creation of "autonomous" bantustans; for his serving as an Israeli client, policing the Palestinians so they wouldn't have to; for his childlike faith in the United States as a guarantor of the interests of the Palestinian people; and for much more.

But this is a one-sided characterization of an extraordinary man. In 1969, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said,

"It was not as if there was a Palestinian people in Palestine and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist."

Well, as Eqbal Ahmed once said, "They damn well exist now." Yasir Arafat, more than any other person, is responsible for this existence, against all odds....