He looked more beat up than usual when he last appeared in public. Now doctors are saying that he has stomach cancer and may have suffered a heart attack last week. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,516827,00.html
Maybe there is a god. When this guy kicks it, you won't see me cry. Now if the rest of the unholy triumverate would follow suit. (I'm looking at you OBL and you Hussein).
This should be interesting, especially if he dies. It begs to wonder "What if?..." What if Arafat was no longer involved in the Palestinian/Israeli peace process? What if removing his influence has a positive effect on peace negotiations? In some ways, many, especially in the West believe Arafat is one of the chief roadblocks on the way to peace in that region. What happens when he is gone? It should be interesting. But the other question out there would be...What if his death changes nothing?
His death will not change anything IMHO. And that is unfortunate. I think hard-line Israeli's and their American surpporters are going to be in for a nasty surprise when they realize that perhaps, just perhaps that the anger and hatred directed towards them is based on their policies towards the Palestinian people and not on the actions of one leader.
His death will change everything. Abbas couldn't get anything done because the old man was in the way. As soon as he's gone, the new Palestinian leader will have to look at the future and shape his policy around what is right, not what Arafat says or does. I may be naive for thinking this, but things will change. For the better, I don't know, but they will change.
I guess I am more cynical about the whole situation than you. I hope you are right for the sake of peace. However, as long as Israel keeps building walls and settlements the conditions that breed these suicide bombers will exist. Not saying that their terrorist actions are okay but no matter who is in charge on the Palestinian side, groups like Hamas will hold sway as long as the conditions are there. Israel needs to be the "bigger man" in this situation and pull back. Maybe then a moderate Palestinian leader will have a chance to lead. Young men and woman will stop blowing themselves up when they see some future.
I think it all depends on who gains power. If it is a known terrorist who just wants Israel gone then nothing changes, but if it is someone with the best interests of his people then everything changes. Arafat was probably hurdle number one to the peace process. One of the biggest things that comes out of this is that if/when he dies he won't be a martyr killed by the Israelis. Now on a personal note: I am sure Sardinia (the poster, not the island!) will come up with some way that Israel is behind this and that Arafat actually personally owns all of the Middle East land!
Which is why an educated woman with a law degree cold-heartedly walked into a Palestinian/Israeli restaurant and blew herself & 20 innocent people to bits. Sometimes pat answers don't explain everything.
Great, you've just ended the need for this entire forum. . I don't think anyone can possibly know what will happen, but I agree with the above sentiments that Isreal (and the US) need to step back, take the high road and use this as a turning point for honest collabrative negotiations for a future palestinian state, not as a chance to stomp on them because they don't have a leader to fight back with. To me, the thing that doesn't get talked about enough is the Palestinian economy. They have no oil, no natural resouces to speak of. Tourism is out (jerusalem yes, rest of gaza no, large parts of west bank, no). It's pretty hard to have a legitimate state when huge parts of your workforce take the bus across the border to work in Isreal. Fixing the politics is huge, but the politics isn't going to get people food every week, only a job and a solid economy can do that.
And blowing people up in the country that provides all these jobs is doing exactly what for the Palestinian economy again? Since Arafat & the other sock puppets they have as "leaders" over there are not forthcoming enough to encourage Palestinians that they can get much more from Israel by negotiations & not bombs, then the building of a security fence and the targeted assassination of Palestinian terrorists will continue. If you live in a nice neighborhood that borders a run-down area and people were getting mugged, raped & killed, would you expect your local police force to hold back & say "well, the criminals have their REASONS for doing this." It's nonsense for Israel to do the same.
The educated woman with a law degree did that for revenge, "They bastards killed my brother, they bastards killed my cousin (fiancee), they bastards are killing my ppl". The exact same reasoning common israelis do with their support to dumb retaliations. If hamas and jihad had f16s and apaches probably they used them instead. Not that this would make it become good. Ben, I don't think a woman is really thrilled with that "virgins" stuff. And "an educated woman with a law degree" doesn't exactly match with the notion of a fundamentalist society.
So if suicide bombers of known origin were setting off bombs in cafe's and on buses killing many innocent people in Sardinia you would feel that it was dumb for your government to attack leaders of the terror orginization? It's sad that you have such a narrow focus that you can't even see things that are common sense to anyone. I assume that you feel the US going after the Taliban after 9/11 is just a "dumb retaliation as well.
i think what us americans seem to have forgotten since 9/11 is the context and history of the palestinian/israeli conflict. We see terrorist-like actions in the form of suicide bombers and our first reaction is knee-jerk support of israel. of course the situation is alot more complicated then that. Remember when the intifada was a bunch of teenagers chucking rocks? Where did that get them? Israel just kept taking land, putting in illegal settlements (in violation of many a UN Resolution - something Bush seems to convienently ignore when citing the Iraq resolution) and setting up check points. So when the palestinians up the ante by engaging in terrorist activities it must be taken in the context of the intifada history. OH and i meant by the "not future" bit alot more of the economic and political repression than anything. law degree is great but if you can't get a job, you live under constant curfew and your brother gets offed i think you will tend to have a different view of the situation.
Last night I had a nightmare, hundreds of thousands of ugly house18s invaded Sardinia to create their home18land. Homework: Meditate on "Why judges have to be impartial and absolutely not involved in the issue they have to judge".
Arafat became a liabilty to the "Palestinian Cause" when the sided with Hussein during the first Gulf War. Hundreds of thousands of "Palestinians" were expelled from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf states in retaliation. One would see groups like Hezbollah and Hamas taking bites out of the PLO when Arafat kicks the can.
HDI rank: 98 Occupied Palestinian Territories 0.731 106 Iran, Islamic Rep. of 0.719 110 Syrian Arab Republic 0.685 120 Egypt 0.648 For what it's worth: 7 United States 0.937 21 Italy 0.916 22 Israel 0.905
2. I am now beginning a campaign to count those who agree with the clever notion (really a great page in the history of mankind) that an entire ppl is collectively terrorist.
most of us aren't talking about a whole people just certain groups and some people consider you to be a supporter of these terrorists since all you do is condemn Israel in any situation and never condemn the terrorists. This would make you a terrorist supporter in many peoples eyes. prove them wrong...if you can.
I condamn the deliberate attacks targeting civilians. i ever did. Perform a search if you don't believe it. I consider the other palestinian fighters to be as legitimate as IDF. But being them legitimate doesn't mean they're smart. It is not a smart strategy to confront IDF, I told more than once that palestinians should use gandhian non violent fight. When will some proisraelis stop to denigrate the interlocutor rather than discuss the various points?