The Life and Legacy of Yasser Arafat....Hamas and the Global Intifada
I think this is the truth but don’t claim it is the whole truth. It is a truth largely neglected in the mainstream media and is necessary for a fair and balanced appraisal of the interminable conflict raging between Israel and Hamas in which the Palestinians are pawns of Hamas situated by its leadership to bear the brunt of the attacking forces and used as sacrificial lambs . Prolonging the war is a strategy to globalize the intifada and calla for people around the globe to participate in rising up against Israel violence. At Harvard University, demonstrators chanted reprehensible slogans such as “Long live the Intifada.” It is a transparent tactic but a profoundly effective one. While the word ‘intifada” might mean “uprising” in practice it is violence against Jews. Begin with the recognition that Hamas is an enemy of civilization and an honest conversation can ensue. An integral part of that conversation must include the extreme goal of right Zionist extremists advocating for eliminating Palestinians. More than 50,000 civilians now killed, and the same Zionist extremists settled in clear cut Palestinian lands driving them out in the past ten years.
The liberal press is busily and perversely intent on creating a narrative in which Israeli’s are portrayed as ruthless, vengeful, and blood thirsty killers. The refrain most echoed is that Israeli’s are continuing to wreak havoc on innocent Palestinian civilians as recompense for the savagery of October 7th. It is a convenient untruth since Israel’s motivation is not to extract retribution on Palestinians for crimes against humanity perpetrated by Hamas but to track down those that pose an existential threat to Israel
That canard distracts attention from the justifiable war being waged to eliminate Hamas by creating the red herring of a genocidal Israel which wreaks vengeance indiscriminately on the helpless and most vulnerable. Hamas uses Palestinians as human cannon fodder and peddles the incessant propaganda as a fruitful recruiting tool. The more civilians Hamas place in the crossfire, the more that are killed and maimed by Israeli weaponry, the better for the survival of Hamas as a terrorist organization whose avowed purpose is the extinction of Israel, “from the river to the sea.”
Egypt has built a big, beautiful wall to keep the Palestinians out. At the same time, Egypt says a mass exodus would bring Hamas or other Palestinian militants onto their soil. That might be destabilizing in Sinai, where Egypt’s military fought for years against Islamic militants and at one point accused Hamas of backing them. Let that sink in when evaluating the complexity of the conundrum confronting Israel. Hatred of Palestinians is not a motivating factor in Israels defensive aggression anymore that is Egypt’s policy of exclusion.
With the Sinai insurgency largely put down, Cairo does not want to have a new security problem on its hands in this problematic region or an even more destabilizing scenario: the wrecking of Egypt and Israel’s 1979 peace deal. Israel provides the sword and the shield keeping Hamas from retrenching in Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states. The central fact is undisputed. Hamas is the terrorist organization non gratis to be rebuffed and not permitted “on our land.” Israel is required to beat ploughshares into swords to repel the invaders for its own peaceful existence and territorial integrity while its neighbors reap the benefits without sharing the obloquy.
The dynamics of today’s antagonistic circumstances can be traced to Arafats legacy of deceit and duplicity, not only in detonating the ’79 Peace Accord, but by nurturing an intractable hatred among Palestinians for Jews. By cultivating his image to identify with the common man he became the avatar of his people. His demonic influence persists as a larger-than-life figure who casts Israeli’s as implacable villains while granting legitimacy to the Hamas coercers, aligned with them by blood and a singular cause. Hamas compounds their domination by the ultimate coercion of blood lust to be visited upon Palestinians and their families if they fail to do their bidding. The only good Palestinian is a compliant Palestinian.
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“The irony is that the very man who made it possible for the Palestinians to revive their cause and pride, also was incapable of solving their problems and instrumental in exacerbating them.. The only victories he won were on the public relations front.”
The tragedy is that the triumphs of his public relations accrued to him personally to the detriment of his people which transformed him from beloved leader to a colossus with the uncanny power to control hearts and minds. Thus, the conclusion must be that Arafat will remain the Palestinian leader for long beyond his demise, but this fact will ensure there will no peace and will be maintained as a perduring impediment to a Palestinian State.