Background / Will Sharon exorcize Arafat or beatify him?
Ha`aretz, April 02, 2002; Nisan 20, 5762
Tuesday, April 02, 2002 Nisan 20, 5762
Israel Time: 10:30 (GMT+3)
08:52 02/04/2002
Last update - 08:53 02/04/2002
Background / Will Sharon exorcize Arafat or beatify him?
By Bradley Burston, Ha'aretz Correspondent
Israelis of all political stripes questioned the aims of the IDF offensive
in the West Bank, prompting speculation that if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
goal was to exorcize his personal dybbuk Yasser Arafat, Israel's focus
on Arafat as the godhead of terror could backfire, with the Palestinian
leader already taking on the mantle of a living, breathing martyr.
Israel has repeatedly stressed that the massive
IDF operation was meant to head off Palestinian suicide attacks and other
terror strikes which have rocked Israel to the core. But world attention
had focused on the plight of Arafat, holding court in an ever-shrinking
area of his Israeli-surrounded and occupied headquarters compound in the
West Bank city of Ramallah.
"All in all, you could call these operations the
Peace for Arafat War," remarks Ha'aretz commentator Danny Rubinstein. "We
[Israelis] ourselves did this. We turned this into a war over Arafat."
Official Israel has represented and continues to
represent Arafat as "the ultimate monster, the liar, the cheat, the one
who's fooled us all the way," Rubinstein says.
But all could boomerang on Israel. Rubinstein notes
that Arafat's confinement and isolation has already elevated him to a hero
status in the Arab world perhaps unrivalled by any period in the long history
of his conflict with Israel - and with arch-nemesis Sharon.
"If Israel in fact holds to its promise not to strike
at Arafat, and he's neither harmed nor deported, in another few days or
weeks when we pull out of there, he will come out of there as a great victor,
with tremendous power," Rubinstein said, indicating that Arafat's newfound
backing could mean that if there are to be future peace negotiations, the
wily Palestinian leader could come to the table in a position of power.
Ran Cohen of the leftist Meretz party said the right-center
Sharon government was unable to present any aim for the war because it
was unwilling to face up to the only alternative course - separating from
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to allow a Palestinian state alongside
Israel. "The policy is one of total failure, not because of a lack of military
activity - there is that. But there is no diplomatic direction or goal."
Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, a leader of the dovish
wing of Labor, also took issue with the IDF actions, saying that negotiations
were the only route to a solution. "The Israelis' greatest problem is that
some of us have fallen in love with the stupidity of the Palestinians.
Just because the position of the Palestinians is a stupid one, just because
they cannot overcome terrorism and they fled the peace process in a violent
manner, does that require us to enter this insane cycle?"
But Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, a senior figure
in Sharon's Likud, dismissed the calls for a return to talks, saying that
Israel should deport Arafat, not show him the way back to the bargaining
table.
"Whoever speaks of a diplomatic accord is misleading
the people," said Shalom, citing the failed negotiations in 2000-2001in
which then-prime minister Ehud Barak, backed by the Clinton White House,
made far-reaching concessions to Arafat, who ultimately turned them down.
"There's no way to reach an agreement with a man
who received an offer of 100 percent [of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip],
including an independent state, including [East] Jerusalem as its capital,
including exchange of lands as part of the [Palestinian] right of return,
and he still said no."
Shalom said that instead of fostering the "delusion"
that Israel had failed to offer Arafat the magic formula for peace, "we
should know how to make the courageous decision... the simple decision,
to expel this man out of here."
Far-right MK Avigdor Lieberman, who resigned his
cabinet seat earlier this month in protest over Sharon's easing of hard-line
policies regarding Arafat and his Palestinian Authority, went further,
declaring that Arafat's Ramallah headquarters - the PA chairman included
- should be "erased from the face of the earth."
Referring to Arafat's headquarters compound, Lieberman
said "I don't see why we don't erase that Mukata [compound] from the face
of the earth. If it was up to me - we have enough F-16s and helicopters,
we should simply erase this whole complex, along with everything inside
- including everyone who's sitting inside."
Speaking to Israel Radio, Lieberman declared that
Israelis of all parties must unite behind the government and the army.
But he quickly added that the operation lacked "a clear definition or direction.
We are not moving in the right direction, and this operation will also
fail to stop the terrorism," he said.
"What does Yasser Arafat care if some hick from
Daheisheh [refugee camp] blows himself up in the center of Jerusalem or
Tel Aviv. As far as he's concerned, 100 - 1,000 - 20,000 can blow themselves
up - the more the better. He has no sensitivity to human life.
Taking an uncharacteristically broad view, however,
Lieberman said that in Arafat caged and alive, the government had chosen
the worst of both worlds.
Referring to separate statements Sunday by Sharon
and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Lieberman noted that "On the one hand
the prime ministre declares Arafat to be the enemy of the Israeli people
and of humanity, while on the other hand the foreign minister still announces
that he's a partner [for negotiations].
"If he's the enemy, we have to go all the way with
him. If he's a partner, we need not humiliate him, allow him room for negotiating.
But to leave him like this, like a wounded animal, is the least correct
thing to do."
© Copyright 2002 Ha`aretz