Uri Avnery 21.9.02
The Murder of Arafat
Deutsche Übersetzung -
Ein historischer Zeuge:
Wie sich Israels Ministerpräsident irrte
Eine Person, die vor 1900 Jahren starb, wurde kürzlich von
Israels Ministerpräsidenten Ariel Scharon aufgefordert, vor seinem verbalen
Femegericht zu erscheinen...
While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still alive. But his life is
hanging on a thread.
When we visited him the last time in his bombed-out Mukata’ah compound in
Ramallah, I warned him that Sharon is determined to kill him.
Everybody acquainted with Sharon knows that he never lets go. When he
does not achieve his aim the first time, he tries again, and again, and
again, and again. Never, ever, does he give up.
Already in besieged Beirut, at the height of the Lebanon war, Sharon was
trying to put his hands on him. Dozens of agents, mostly Phalanges members,
were combing the western quarters in order to catch him. He evaded them, as
he has evaded dozens of assassination attempts before and after, by
Abu-Nidal (who was at least partly a Mossad hireling) and others.
Now Sharon believes that he can achieve his aim. He needs only Bush’s
approval. Not necessarily a formal confirmation. A subtle hint will suffice.
Half a word. A wink.
It will be easy to implement the decision. An incident can be put in
motion: soldiers enter the office in order to capture “wanted” people,
somebody opens fire, Arafat will be shot “by accident”. Arafat may draw his
pistol, soldiers will “have no alternative” but to return fire. A shell may
hit the office “by mistake”, Arafat will be buried under the rubble. After
all, in war accidents happen. A lot of accidents.
Sharon never wanted to “deport” Arafat to Gaza or any other place in this
world. He wants to deport him to the next world. Now this is possible.
It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake!
Therefore, it is necessary to speak out bluntly and unequivocally:
Morally, the murder of Arafat, the historical leader and elected
president of the Palestinian people, is reprehensible. Like the murder of
Rabin.
Legally, the murder of Arafat is a war crime.
Politically, it will be said about the murder of Arafat what a French
statesman said about another political murder: “It is worse than a crime, it
is a mistake!”
Arafat is the man who decided, 28 years ago, to start on the road to a
settlement with Israel, in order to realize this way the national
aspirations of the Palestinian people. At the time, that was an incredibly
bold decision, and he took it long before Rabin and Peres even dreamed about
Oslo. I know, because I was an eye-witness to the beginnings of the process.
Since than, Arafat has not changed by one iota the decision he took then:
to seek conciliation with Israel within the framework of peace that will
include an independent Palestinian state, return to the pre-1967 border with
mutually agreed adjustments, Jerusalem capital of both states, withdrawal of
the settlers, suitable security arrangements, a mutually agreed solution of
the refugee problem.
On this basis, peace is possible even now. Immediately. But Sharon
rejects it with both his fists. He wants a Greater Israel, the extension of
the settlements, and, eventually, the elimination of the Palestinian
presence west of the Jordan.
The assertion of Ehud Barak that Arafat has rejected his own peace plan
is a blatant lie, that has caused a historical disaster. Barak’s “generous
offers” were far from the sensible solution.
Now, as before, Arafat is the only person capable of signing a peace
agreement and convince his people to accept and implement it. No other
Palestinian leader capable of doing so is to be seen on the horizon.
Leadership of the Palestinian people will not pass into the hands of the
“moderates”, who will look like collaborators and accomplices to the murder,
but into the hands of the extremists, fanatics thirsting for revenge.
A crime against the Israeli people
The murder of Arafat is the murder of all chances for peace. That is a
crime against the Israeli people. It will condemn us to making war for
decades, perhaps for generations to come, perhaps forever. The moral, social
and economic decline that we are experiencing now everywhere in Israel will
drag Israel down to new depths and to the emigration of many.
The dead Arafat will become a legend of heroism to his people and a new
Che Guevara to the world. His mistakes will be forgotten. For future
generations of Palestinians, he will become a role model. Hundreds of
millions of Arabs and Muslims, from Morocco to Indonesia, will compare their
own leaders to the dead Arafat, and the comparison will be fatal.
In the eyes of these hundreds of millions, Israel and Jews will become a
synonym of betrayal, killing and lying. The poisonous plant of anti-Semitism
will bloom as never before. Already we are tasting a small sample of this.
If this disaster happens, all the government will share the blame. Not
one minister will be acquitted. Neither Ben-Eliezer, nor Peres, nor any of
their colleagues. Nor the army officers who cooperated and even pushed the
political leadership. Nor the members of the Knesset, whether belonging to
the coalition or the opposition, who kept quite during the recent months.
Nor the correspondents and commentators, who turned themselves into
government and army spokesmen. Nor the professors and intellectuals, who saw
and were silent. All of them will bear the responsibility.
This is the last minute to get up and shout: NO!
Druck auf Scharon
wächst:
Arafat beseitigen
ist nicht schwer - aber was dann?
...sollte Arafat im Zuge einer solchen Aktion
umkommen, wäre mit einer noch viel schlimmeren Welle des Terrors zu rechnen.
Die Schwächung der PLO könnte zwar endgültig sein, die Folge wäre aber die
Beerbung durch die Hamas. Arafats Angebot eines Palästinastaates in den
Grenzen von 1967 wäre vom Tisch...
Arafat in Ramallah:
Deckt ihn zu,
dass er sich nicht erkältet
Erinnern wir uns an den bekannten
ungarischen Witz über einen Soldaten, der seiner Mutter einen Brief von der
Front schrieb und mitteilte: „Ich habe einen türkischen Soldaten gefangen
genommen, aber er will mich nicht gehen lassen.“?...
Yassir Arafat ist krank:
Auch ein Rais lebt nicht ewig
Als er zu Beginn letzten Jahres eine
starke Grippe hatte, machte sich Yassir Arafat über die Medienberichte
lustig, die seine Gesundheit in Frage stellten. «Unsinn», wurde er zitiert,
«ich habe Anschläge auf mein Leben überstanden, bin bei einem
Flugzeugabsturz davongekommen, habe General Ariel Sharons Panzern in Beirut
getrotzt glauben Sie wirklich, dass eine lumpige Grippe mich umbringen
wird?»
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