EWolfe Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Interesting times we live in, for starters Quote
catbirdseat Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Arafat, the Nobel Prize Winner. It really takes the luster off the honor doesn't it? Quote
jon Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Arafat did what was right for his people. With how the Israelis treat the Palestinians are you really suprised that they are plowing up buses. Quote
selkirk Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 To call Arafat unreservedly evil is not to understand him. Like most people i'm sure he did what he felt was best for his people, weather or not you agree with his politics. Quote
catbirdseat Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 I've always felt that there has been an antisemitic undercurrent on this board. Quote
Squid Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 I've always felt that there has been an antisemitic undercurrent on this board. Â Where is that coming from? Â Assholes, yes, but mostly non-denominational assholes. Quote
klenke Posted November 11, 2004 Author Posted November 11, 2004 "plowing up buses"?? Nice typo, Jon. One of the funniest typos I've seen in a while. Â I think we can all agree Arafat could have done more for his people than he did. Quote
Kevin_Matlock Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Fine, fine... so he did this and that for/against his country. Who gives a shit. What I want to know is how this guy died, no, was in a comma, no, he's fine... nope, dead... did we say dead, we meant 'has really bad gas'... oh shit, NOW I guess he's dead. This time for good. WTF? Instead of Arnie, they shoulda got him for the Terminator. The asshole would NOT stay dead. Â God/budda/Mohamad/Apu rest his soul. Quote
jon Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 I'm sure the same could be said about you, Klenke. Quote
icegirl Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Palestinian sympathiser? WTF? Â For once I just may have to agree with CBS. Quote
Squid Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Whoa! You can hold the opinion that the Palestinians might have legimate grievances w/o being anti-Semitic. Â Enough of this black/white for-us-or-against-us bullshit. Quote
catbirdseat Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 I believe that Arafat did not serve the best interest of his people regardless of what he believed. His position favoring the destruction of Isreal was one that left no room for negotiation. Even when he renounced that position, he was never believed by the Israelis and why should they with buses and restaurants being blown up? Â The two sides were moving towards peace at the close of the Clinton Administration, which tried to project an unbiased image to both sides. He had them each believing that we expected them to give up something for peace. But since then, the US has stood back and given either tacit or explicit approval to everything that the Isrealis have done. The result is that the Palastinians have lost hope. Â I don't know what to expect now that Arafat is gone. It may be he is replace with a strong leader, or there may be prolonged infighting. Quote
JayB Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Arafat's leadership has proven to be a monumental disaster for the cause that he was ostensibly dedicated to advancing. He could have had nearly everything he claimed to have been fighting for when Clinton tabled the final deal, yet Arafat refused and chose to renew an armed conflict against a superior force. Great strategy. Â His passing may have been the best thing to happen to the Palestians in decades. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Arafat's leadership has proven to be a monumental disaster for the cause that he was ostensibly dedicated to advancing. He could have had nearly everything he claimed to have been fighting for when Clinton tabled the final deal, yet Arafat refused and chose to renew an armed conflict against a superior force. Great strategy. Â His passing may have been the best thing to happen to the Palestians in decades. Â Also, Sharon has recently ordered that Israeli settlers in the Gaza strip must abandon their settlements. That's two good developments for that conflict in one short week. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Â BTW, has anyone else noticed that Arafat's face closely resembles a camel's ass? Just wondering... Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Â More fodder for you all: Â http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2203 Quote
slothrop Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 There's a long and fascinating obituary in the New York Times that goes into some detail about the history of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. The thesis is that Arafat just could not pull it together strategically and missed several huge opportunities to do right by his people. He struggled to keep his own group relevant and independent while steadily losing power to more militant organizations. He spoke out of both sides of his mouth quite a lot, but for all his tactical maneuvering, he never got the job done.  http://nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/arafatobit.html  I didn't even realize that Arafat had ordered the murders of the Israeli athletes in Munich. Disgusting.  Unfortunately, the guy didn't bother to name a successor. Let's hope someone reasonable takes over and is ready to deal with Sharon. Quote
JoshK Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Arafat did what was right for his people. With how the Israelis treat the Palestinians are you really suprised that they are plowing up buses. Â Nothing like gross oversimplifications. If he wanted to help his people he could have pressured the Arab states to accept statehood for the palestiniens along with Israel in 1948. As it is, he accomplished nothing, isolated his people from the west and led to numerous deaths. Quote
slothrop Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 Arafat wasn't really on the scene in 1948... but the guy who could have accepted the offer of a Palestinian state out-Arafated-Arafat and refused it. The deal on the table back then was much sweeter than it has been ever since. Quote
Lars Posted November 11, 2004 Posted November 11, 2004 arafat was a terrorist, plain and simple. the world is a better place without him. Quote
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