ARAFAT : 'For Whom the Bell tolls' ?
Foreign Press Foundation - Henk Ruyssenaars - 08.09.2003 13:45
"Why is Arafat after all those years still alive ?", always has been one of the questions. The answer, even often given by Arafat's own advisers, is simple : Arafat lives as long as this is seen as useful by - and to - the Israeli and American government.
DOES THE 'ROAD MAP' LEAD TO 'ETERNAL PEACE' FOR THE PALESTINIANS ?
BECAUSE NOW THE BUSH-ADMINISTRATION CALLS ARAFAT 'AN OBSTACLE TO PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST'.
by Henk Ruyssenaars
Foreign Press Foundation - Sept. 8th 2003 - On Sunday, 'Abu Ammar' - or - 'the Constructor' - as Arafat also is called, had a meeting with the left-over leaders of his own 'al Fatah' movement. High on the agenda - as ever - is Arafat's security, especially after Saturday's attempt to kill the most prominent Hamas leader, Sheik Yassin.
FOR ARAFAT, THE 'ROAD MAP' MAY LEAD TO A CEMETERY.
Dan Rather, CBS's anchor man phoned: if I wanted to meet him for lunch ? It was in Tunis, summer 1994, where PLO Chairman and leader Yassir Arafat, and the main part of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), was preparing the return from exile in Tunisia to what was left of their Palestine; Apartheid and the "Bantustans' of the West Bank and Gaza.
CBS had earlier phoned to get my help as a correspondent for the broadcast about Arafat's departure, and - hoping to have some influence on the information which Dan Rather was going to spread in '60 Minutes' - I accepted.
Rather said he just wanted 'to pick my brain' in order to get as much local background information as possible. Which pleads for him. At that time I had known and 'covered' the PLO, the Mid-East conflict and the Palestinian people for seven years, and knew the garbage the mainstream media daily pour out over them. And many do so, every day.
So we had a nice lunch at the splendid pool side club of Abu Nawas Hotel; the 6 million $ a year anchorman and the dutch correspondent, who still after many years as an independent and 'free' correspondent - thought he could influence people by reason and facts of life. It did, a little bit, at that time. But CBS (Westinghouse) lost all credibility in the past decade, like most of the global media having been absorbed by the industry.
So Rather also wanted to know about earlier attempts to kill Arafat, like the bombing of the PLO HQ in Tunisia.
This serious attempt to kill Arafat was made in october 1985 by bombing the PLO offices close to Tunis, killing twenty Tunisians and fifty-five Palestinians, with bombs that tore people to shreds beyond recognition, among other horrors described by Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk, on the scene.
Arafat wasn't hit, because as he kept telling for years : " I had just left the premises 10 minutes before, so the Mossad's intelligence was not that good."
U.S. journals had little interest, the victims being Arabs and the killers U.S. clients. Secretary Shultz was definitely interested, however. The United States had cooperated in the massacre by refusing to warn its ally Tunisia that the bombers were on their way, and Shultz telephoned Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a noted terrorist himself from the early 1940s, to inform him that the U.S. administration "had considerable sympathy for the Israeli action," the press reported.
Shultz drew back from this public approbation when the U.N. Security Council unanimously denounced the bombing as an "act of armed aggression", (the United States abstaining).
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was welcomed to
Washington a few days later as a man of peace, while the press solemnly discussed his consultations with President Reagan on "the evil scourge of terrorism" and what can be done to counter it. (  http://tinyurl.com/miki ).
But, back to the present, and a disillusioned Mahmoud Abbas who has now - and as expected - resigned as prime minister.
Too late in understanding that no Palestinian ever trusts a Palestinian who is trusted by Israel and the US.
So - after a four-month power struggle with Yasser Arafat, Abbas and hisbackers lost the fight over Arafat's "own' security forces - like Force 17 - which he does not want to give up. One reason being that he needs them more than ever: they have saved his life too often.
Leaving again Israel and the United States, prompting calls by some top Israeli officials to expel Arafat, or get anyhow rid of him one way or the other.
PRELUDE FOR ARAFAT; THE BOMBING OF SHEIK YASSIN
An Israeli warplane dropped last Saturday a 550 pound bomb on a Hamas Gaza City apartment, turning it into a botched attempt to kill several top Hamas leaders, including the Islamic militant group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury, the news agencies now report.
The fact is apparent that the present Israeli Government - nor the US - cares anymore whether Palestinian national characters - or anybody else for that matter - like the wheel chaired Sheik Yassin or a lot of bystanders as 'collateral damage' are killed, breeding every day more terrorism by doing so.
So Arafat very well may be next in the line of fire.
It looks like Armageddon time, which as well may turn out to be a Massada.
( Massada: http://tinyurl.com/milm )
Saturday's dramatic events - the attack on Yassin and the Hamas leadership - could provoke more Hamas suicide bombings and Israeli reprisals, also in the form of new attacks on the PLO leadership.
Israel has declared a state of high alert Saturday evening, bracing for more attacks.
On whom, one might want to ask ?
Yassin was the highest-ranking Palestinian leader after Arafat, ever targeted by Israel, and top fugitives, including Mohammed Deif, No. 1 on Israel's wanted list, were also in the room, security officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Israel saw Abbas' resignation - and Arafat's Phoenix rising again in this power vacuum - and it felt compelled to act immediately.
"No Hammas official is immune," said Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir, adding that "there will be other chances" to go after Hamas leaders. Israel might be more likely now to make good on threats to expel Arafat.
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, a member of the Israeli security Cabinet, said Israel has refrained from kicking out Arafat at the request of the United States. "Maybe the White House will have second thoughts now, and then we'll have to consider Arafat's presence again," he said.
The Bush administration said it was determined to continue with the 'road map', but didn't back down from its disdain for Arafat, whom it says is 'an obstacle to peace efforts'.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned in a statement that Israel would not do business with a government controlled by Arafat or his loyalists.
Like Abu Ala who is now suggested as the new PM.
ONE WONDERS FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS?
Henk Ruyssenaars
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/jo4y
The Netherlands
fpf (at) chello.nl
The Dutch author worked for many decades for international A/V media as foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the Arab World and the Middle East.
Seeing that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism !
HR
 E-Mail: fpf@chello.nl  Website: http://tinyurl.com/jo4y
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