After Arafat
By Uri Avnery
15 November, 2004
Gush
Shalom
Rejoice
not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he
stumbleth, Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him. This biblical
injunction (Proverbs 24:17) is one of the most profound Jewish moral
tenets.
In this connection,
Israel is very far from being a Jewish State, as it likes
to define itself. The disgusting filth poured out over Yasser Arafat
during the last few days in practically all the Israeli media makes
one ashamed to be an Israeli.
The demonization
of the Palestinian national leader, which has been the center-piece
of Israeli propaganda for decades, continues even after his death. It
seems that 37 years as occupiers have bestialized our society and left
it bereft even of common decency. Ministers and fishmongers, TV icons
and university professors, leftists and outright fascists
tried to outdo each other in utter vulgarity.
Never was the huge
gap in the perceptions of the two peoples more striking than on the
day of Arafats funeral. While Israeli commentators and experts
on Arab affairs almost all of them veterans of the various
intelligence agencies described the late leader as a veritable
monster, the epitome of cruelty, viciousness and corruption - a hundred
thousand grief-stricken mourners in Ramallah exploded in a burst of
emotions that nearly threw the funeral into pandemonium. If the Israeli
army had not surrounded and isolated all Palestinian towns that day,
more than a million people would have been there.
Gush Shalom, the
only Israeli organization that openly mourned alongside the Palestinian
people, decided to send a delegation to the funeral. All of us activists,
women and men, wore on our breast a big sticker displaying the Israeli
and Palestinian flags. The sheer pressure of the multitude split us
up among the crowd. Throughout the hours of the funeral, we felt completely
safe, even when thousands of shots were fired around us into the air
to express grief and bereavement. We encountered hundreds of expressions
of gratitude and friendship from Palestinians of all ages and stations
in life.
I was in the middle
of the melee when the helicopter bearing the coffin arrived from Cairo.
Standing beside the grave among the Palestinian ministers, religious
dignitaries and diplomats, I was vividly aware of the intense emotions
of the huge crowd around us when the helicopter touched down. I remembered
the scene of Gamal Abd-al-Nassers funeral in 1970, when the masses
surged forward and literally captured the body of their beloved leader
from the soldiers, and felt that this was going to happen here at any
moment. And it did.
No Arab leader
and very few world leaders evoke such profound love and
admiration among their people as this man, whom Israelis consider a
veritable monster in human form. The Palestinians trusted him, relied
on him, let him make all the big decisions that demanded courage, derived
from him the strength to defy the intolerable conditions under a brutal
occupation. Now, suddenly, incredibly, they found themselves alone,
like orphaned waifs, in a world changed by the death of a man who left
a huge gap behind him.
What will happen
now? Arafat has brought his people from the edge of oblivion to the
threshold of independence. But the battle for liberation is still far
from over. The new leadership will have to face all the problems that
confronted Arafat, without the towering authority of Arafat.
Abu Mazen, Abu-Ala
and their colleagues are upright, decent people. I have known them for
years, mostly from meetings with Arafat. But they have no deep roots
in their people. It may be years before a strong leadership emerges.
At the moment,
the Palestinians are united in their resolve to show the world that
they can overcome this crisis in a civilized and responsible manner.
This could have been a chance for Israel (and the United States, of
course) to open a new chapter in relations with the Palestinian people.
What could have
been done? Well, there should have been a show of goodwill with such
gestures as the mass release of Palestinian prisoners, including the
much respected Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who has been sentenced
to serve five consecutive life sentences. Sieges should have been lifted
and army operations at least reduced. Peace negotiations should have
been announced for the near future.
The first test
was, of course, the funeral itself. Arafat should have been buried in
Jerusalem, according to his wishes. His interment in Ramallah will only
strengthen the resolve of the Palestinians to fight until they are able
to re-bury him there. The Minister of Justice, Tommy Lapid, an extreme
rightist posing as a liberal, reached new heights of vulgarity when
he declared that Jewish Kings, not Arab terrorists, are buried
in Jerusalem. Well, Menachem Begin, a terrorist who became a king
and was buried in Jerusalem, could have served as a precedent.
But the most important
thing is to enable the Palestinians to hold elections within 60 days
of the death of the President, as their constitution demands. Actually,
my last conversation with Arafat, a few weeks ago (when, by the way,
he looked quite healthy) concerned elections. We agreed that they are
impracticable while the Israeli army routinely assassinates potential
candidates and makes movement between towns and villages almost impossible.
How will candidates if they remain alive canvass their
voters? How will they distribute material, hold meetings and debate
policies, with tanks in the background and helicopter gunships hovering
overhead?
This situation
must be changed at once. All troops must be withdrawn at least from
the areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority (so-called
Areas A and B, according to the Oslo agreements), freedom of movement
restored, the assassination campaign stopped and, most importantly,
international observers invited .
Will this happen?
Probably not. Ariel Sharon has absolutely no interest in sitting opposite
a democratically elected leadership enjoying international legitimacy
and respect, perhaps even weakening his control over President Bush
and obstructing his plan for the annexation of most of the West Bank
. He will do everything to prevent elections, and, of course, blame
the Palestinians.
As always, it is
advisable to ignore what Sharon says - and pay close attention to what
he does.