Jump to content

Arafat has died


klenke

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 41
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

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. pitty.gif

 

God/budda/Mohamad/Apu rest his soul. the_finger.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

 

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.

 

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

His passing may have been the best thing to happen to the Palestians in decades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

His passing may have been the best thing to happen to the Palestians in decades.

 

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...