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All those broken hearts at the BBC

Reports from Paris indicate that there has been a marked improvement in the condition of Yasser Arafat.

He’s dead.

64 comments to All those broken hearts at the BBC

  • fnyser

    Good fucking riddance already.

    Let’s give the O.T. his props… pissing and dancing on his grave and the like.

  • S. Weasel

    Dead at last.

    And so the world is rid of as evil an piece of shit as ever breathed oxygen.

    One could almost hope the God of Abraham really exists, to greet him properly.

  • Christopher Price

    “The Israeli government, which branded him a terrorist, ” – says the BBC website.

    Under what possible definition of terrorist was he not one?

  • R C Dean

    Under what possible definition of terrorist was he not one?

    He qualified for the Jew-killing exception. He probably also got points for not having white skin.

  • Hmmm...

    Arafat always insisted he wants to die as a Shahid – as a ‘martyr’. Shouldn’t his wish be granted, symbolically & posthumously?

    They’re looking for a way to make his funeral a memorable, honourable occasion. What could be more fitting or more noble than to wrap Arafat in a suicide belt (silk, embroided in gold) and – in great ceremony – blow up his body while fireworks sparkle in the sky?

    Thus endeth the ceremony. Everyone go home now. Nothing to see.

  • Saracen

    “Reports from Paris indicate that there has been a marked improvement in the condition of Yasser Arafat.”

    Yes, he’s in Paradise: winged there with the fond thoughts and prayers of tens of millions.

  • 2004 seems to be a very good year, indeed. Hope it lasts.

  • John R

    Rejoice, rejoice …

  • Christopher Price

    RC Dean – Yes of course, how foolish of me. This was the one that allowed Jenny Tonge to retain the Lib Dem whip wasnt it.

  • Too bad it took so long. The world and especially the Plaistinians would have been better off if King Hussien had killed him in 1967

  • Hmmm...

    Or if he had suddenly died directly after Oslo, before he had a chance to reveal the way forward is still “blood and fire” (as he so aptly put it, chanting it to the masses when he re-entered the territories on the basis of his false peace promise).

    Had he died right then, Palestinians might have thought he genuinely wanted peace. His legacy would (unwittingly) has been brilliant.

  • Hmmm...

    (Maybe I should learn how to type…)

  • At long last, the devil gets his due.

  • free

    Did anyone else catch the French ceremony on CNN? I think I’m going to be sick! If this had been a story, I would have said the writer had no imagination and was only an author of stereotypes.
    It’s not a coincidence this ceremony is in France. And Chirac saying “I bow my head in his honour” or some such thing.

    If bin Laden would be ill. perhaps France would treat him like royalty in their hospitals and then mark a ceremony with Chirac bowing his head in front of bin Laden too.

    Nauseating! And the CNN voice-over was almost as bad. The same reverant tones, speaking of him as a man who only wanted peace and an independent state.

  • Mike

    “Yes, he’s in Paradise: winged there with the fond thoughts and prayers of tens of millions.”

    If he’s in paradise, it’s because Jacques Chirac all but fellated his corpse in Paris.

    Good riddance to bad garbage, and long, long overdue. (And I’m not referring to the week he spent in the fridge before they announced his “death”.)

  • Samsung

    Well I for one am happy that this piece of deviant, murderous Muslim garbage is finally dead.

    This is the Egyptian midget who created the PLO and had those 11 atheletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics killed in cold blood. F*ck the terrorist bastard, and good riddence.

    I heard that the Former Romanian intelligence chief Ion Pacepa siad that the Nicolae Ceaucescu regime bugged his Romanian hotel room and taped Arafat’s orgies with his chauffeur and male body guards. Kinky….

    Can you imagine having Arafraud, with his big rubbery lips slobbering all over you?… Discusting!!! The shear thought is enough to make you PUKE.

    What I want to know is who gets their grubby hands on Arafat’s stolen billions?

  • free

    “If he’s in paradise, it’s because Jacques Chirac all but fellated his corpse in Paris”

    You noticed it too, huh?

    By the way, Chirac seems to be the spitting image of pompousness. A caricature of himself. Aren’t the French the least bit embaressed by him???

  • John

    Does this mean Barbara Plett gets bereavement leave?
    (YEAAA! got it right this time!)

  • Pete_London

    free

    Glad I’m not the only one who spotted this. That poorly formed idea that lurks at the back of the mind came roaring forward when seeing him in Normandy on June 6. The man is truly preposterous and the very epitome of the strutting, self-important buffoon.

  • Ed Poinsett USMC 1482250

    Pete_London

    I like to think of him as the strutting unimportant buffoon. Regards

  • Pete_London

    free:

    Did anyone else catch the French ceremony on CNN?

    I don’t know if I saw what you saw but what I saw was quite extraordinary. Sky News broadcast footage of Arafat’s coffin being carried to the (French) airliner taking him to Cairo. They didn’t have him and his box up on a fork lift. No. He was carried shoulder high by either soldiers or gendarmes. I couldn’t tell which, I’m no expert on French regalia. However, the whole thing smacked of a State send off.

    That the French political classes are duplicitous, untrustworthy, mendacious and cowardly in the face any possible threat is no news to me. This seemed like an overt, explicit statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

    As free asked, did anyone else see it?

  • free

    “The man is truly preposterous and the very epitome of the strutting, self-important buffoon”

    Well put!

    “This seemed like an overt, explicit statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people. ”

    Mmmm. If it would merely have been a sentiment of general solidarity with the Palestinian people, it wouldn’t have been so obscene.

    I find the roles to be symbolic. Arafat was the grand terrorist leader of the Palestinians. Chirac is the President of France. When Chirac uttered the words: “I come to bow my head in front of Arafat”, we witnessed France submitting to and bowing its head before Palestinian terror in particular and Arab/Islamic terror in general.

    This bodes ill.

    As an aside – my jaw dropped in astonishment – Arafat’s pet terrorist group – the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have announced they’re changing their name to the Arafat Martyrs Brigades. Now, when they next blow up a crowded bus, we’ll be hearing “The Arafat Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the blast”. This will make it a little harder for the BBC to make Arafat’s name synonymous with ‘Peace’.

    Pity the group didn’t change their name much earlier…

    Mind you, I detest Chirac more than Arafat.

  • free

    “German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder credited Arafat with striving to lead the Palestinians to independence, regretting that ‘it was not granted to Yasser Arafat to complete his life’s work.’ ”

    A sentence which a German leader in a different era would have nodded vigorously to.

  • Rollo

    Fantastic!!!!!

    All we need now is someone to put a bullet between the eyes of Ariel Sharon and the world really IS a better place.

  • John

    Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe(Link):

    It would take an encyclopedia to catalog all of the evil Arafat committed. But that is no excuse for not trying to recall at least some of it.

    Perhaps his signal contribution to the practice of political terror was the introduction of warfare against children. On one black date in May 1974, three PLO terrorists slipped from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Ma’alot. They murdered two parents and a child whom they found at home, then seized a local school, taking more than 100 boys and girls hostage and threatening to kill them unless a number of imprisoned terrorists were released. When Israeli troops attempted a rescue, the terrorists exploded hand grenades and opened fire on the students. By the time the horror ended, 25 people were dead; 21 of them were children.

  • Sycamore's Leaf

    They should’ve kept the Jews in Europe.

  • free

    “Kept” them on leashes? And if the leashes would break, perhaps gunned them down as they made their way to their original homeland? Who knows, either way, it sounds like a idea best encapsulated in the word “freedom” and “dignity”. Nice one. Arafat would would approve of you.

  • Anointiata Delenda Est

    “The man is truly preposterous and the very epitome of the strutting, self-important buffoon”

    As Groucho Marx would have said of Chirac – “Once you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made”.

    ADE

  • Julian Morrison

    When Bush heard, he said “may god bless his soul”. I think partly he was just being polite, but partly also, I think he would see “Arafat the symbol of peace” as more pragmatically useful than “Arafat the symbol of suicide-bombing”. In arab parts of the world, “Arafat would have wanted it” might carry some clout. But what would he have “wanted”. Probably terrorism and petty power, but if the world leaders can spin it that he was a “man of peace”, his name could become a lever to move matters in the right direction.

    Possibly Chirac also thinks this. More probably though, the whole ceremonial send-off is a way of pulling down their pants and mooning the USA and Israel.

  • Sycamore's Leaf

    Right. Go back to their “homeland” which was the home of another nation where they drove them out while the world watched in silent apparent approval.

  • Sycamore's Leaf

    And “kept” as in not moved them to a foreign country where their ancestors roamed _generations_ ago while they could have stayed in safer places in Europe or even gone to America which would be I imagine a more fitting place than Israel.

    I find the attitude was something like, “Sure, ship them off to somewhere halfway around the world where we won’t have to deal with them (and good riddance).”

  • Ted Schuerzinger

    John:

    You forgot the important final paragraph of Jacoby’s column: He names the 21 children murdered in the school hostage-taking.

    When I heard Arafat died, I felt like dancing in the street the same way Palestinians did when they heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

  • Richard

    I thought this blog had a policy on swearing in the comments section. It’s rather troubling to read posts that do use expletives and there really isn’t a need for it, it simply debases the argument itself.

  • Alan Furman

    The Baathist Broadcasting Corporation is said to be on the verge of slashing its payroll ahead of Charter Renewal Day. I nominate Barbara Plett for the honor.

    That will give the witch something to cry about.

  • S. Weasel

    I thought this blog had a policy on swearing in the comments section.

    I would be really surprised if that were so. I don’t think management would want to put up with many profanity-laced tirades (if they were otherwise without merit), but libertarians in general find the notion of “swearing” rather puzzling.

  • free

    But I’m still wondering about Chirac.. I can’t just drop it. When you see him talking, you almost feel there’s a red arrow on the screen, nudging and pointing to his head, with the words “Brain-free zone” alternating with “Pompous and empty” (sorry for using swearwords). Much was made of Americans feeling that inteliigence isn’t the primary quality they look for in a President, but then how do the French put up with Chirac?

    “The man is truly preposterous and the very epitome of the strutting, self-important buffoon”

    So well put. He seems like a sorry excuse for a human being, let alone a head of state, a symbol of the people.

    What do the French feel about him?

  • Jacob

    We were just a couple of percentage points away from having a Chirac like character as president of the US.

  • A_t

    “Much was made of Americans feeling that inteliigence isn’t the primary quality they look for in a President”

    No-one does… show me one country that really values intelligence over ‘style’, whether that style is visual or otherwise, at election time; some countries seem to prefer a ‘sophisticated’ style, others an ‘unsophisticated’ one, but either way, so much hangs on it; far more so than ‘intelligence’.

    As to the Chirac thing, I get the feeling you’re letting your views on other issues colour your judgement; I find Chirac no more pompous or strutting than any other Western leader (that is to say, he’s definitely both, but show me someone who isn’t).

  • Duncan

    S.Weasel wrote:

    “but libertarians in general find the notion of ‘swearing’ rather puzzling”

    What, may I ask, could you possibly base this on? No offense, it just seems like a bizzare thing to write. To say the act of swearing is a libertarian / non libertarian quality is just odd… Though I’m a US libertarian… maybe over there it is.

  • S. Weasel

    What, may I ask, could you possibly base this on? No offense, it just seems like a bizzare thing to write.

    The very act of calling obscene language “swearing” is a religious sentiment. It harks back to old expletives that involved oaths of various diabolic kinds and the Biblical injunction against swearing oaths. It attached itself modern expletives that have nothing to do with oaths, and the muddled idea that it’s okay to say “urine” but saying “piss” somehow makes Jesus sad. This is a concept that makes no sense, even if you believe in Jesus, and libertarians pride themselves on being hyperrational people who think things through and reject ideas that don’t make sense.

    Now, it is undeniable that language has tone in addition to meaning and expletives have an uncivil tone. Someone of a libertarian bent may well reject the incivility of coarse language, but not because the uttering of certain syllables in a certain order is a magical formula of offensiveness.

    Also, all the libertarians I know swear a lot 🙂

  • Let us judge Arafat by the standard of what he has achieved for the Palestinians. After all, that is presumably how he would have wished to be judged.

    By that standard, I would say he was a catastrophe. It is true that he succeeded in putting the issue on the political agenda, but overall the last fourty years have been an unmitigated disaster for the Palestinians; and Arafat must take much of the blame.

    Accordingly, by his own standards he deserves condemnation, not praise. He had a weak hand but he played it appallingly. It is hard to believe that any other leader would have done such a terrible job.

  • Pete_London

    I’d like something explained to me if someone is so inclined:

    Have I lost the plot?

    I ask because I have just read that the UN lowered its flag to half mast following Arafat’s death! The world is a truly sick place.

  • John

    Ted:

    You’re quite correct, it was an error on my part. I’m curious, is the attitude of European politicians and media to Arafart’s (not a typo) death simply pandering to the Muslim population there?

  • Duncan

    S. Weasel,

    I see now that we are on the same page : ) I wasn’t thinking along the etymmological (is that a real word?)lines of “swearing”

    Nice.

  • free

    Ofcourse. And this explains why France (with by far the highest ratio of Arabs/Muslims) excelled itself – with Chirac’s unforgettably treating Arafat like royalty and saying “I bow my head before Arafat”.

    However, It’s not only a matter of the local Muslim population. It’s also a matter of wishing to appease radical Arabs/Muslims in general. (I’ve actually read hopeful talk that taking care of Arafat will afford the French some sort of protection from terrorist attacks).

    There are other issues at play here: Europe very badly wants to be a superpower. One of the ways to do this, is to stick close to the Arab world – and when America takes a small step back – to quickly step into the vacuum in solidarity.

    Europe in general (and France in particular) understandably have huge financial interests in the Arab world – and that’s without even taking into consideration all the Oil which the Arab world effectively controls.

    As far as they’re concerned, this is an alliance with no down side. It’s a win-win situation! How could they lose by it? After all, they’re not likely to have their trains bombed by Jewish extremists in retaliation. The amount of business they do with Israel is tiny in comparison to their Arab financial interests.

    Add all these up together and you’ll not be surprised at French behaviour (or at European behaviour).

    Having said which, it does seem to me that by and large, the bigger the % of Arab/Muslims in the population, the more radically pro-Arab the government is. This too makes sense.
    The only ‘problem’ is that they need to support a value system entirely opposed to their own, but then again, as we see with the reverence given to Arafat – nobody really complains. Just a few people type some things on blogs as the UN lowers its flag to half mast.

  • Euan Gray

    The very act of calling obscene language “swearing” is a religious sentiment

    Nothing to do with it betraying illiteracy, then? Where I live, the F and C words are often used as punctuation, and people frown upon it not because of religion but because the use of scatalogical obscenity really does betray an unwillingness or an inability to use better words.

    Biblical injunctions against “swearing” have nothing to do with what one might call foul language, but with a prohibition on taking the Lord’s name in vain – i.e. making a religious oath with no intention of keeping it. Interestingly enough, the practice of making an oath on a religious basis, as is done regularly in courts, parliament, etc., in Britain, is actually contrary to Christian teaching, which says one should only say “yes” or “no.”

    EG

    EG

  • Rollo

    “I’d like something explained to me if someone is so inclined:

    Have I lost the plot? ”

    Yes. You imbecile.

  • S. Weasel

    Illiteracy gives us “uh” and “you know” and “I was all, like, whatever,” but it doesn’t attract the same visceral disapproval.

    Biblical injunctions against “swearing” have nothing to do with what one might call foul language, but with a prohibition on taking the Lord’s name in vain – i.e. making a religious oath with no intention of keeping it.

    That’s the actual meaning of the passage, but it’s how “swearing” got its name all the same — from the profane oaths that were the commonest form of expletive at one time. It was the scriptural hook on which disapproval of certain language was hung, as it were.

    A really inspired string of profanity is a wonder to behold. I, for one, would hate to take any class of language out of my repertoire.

    Errr…sorry to wander so far off-topic.

  • Verity

    Who gave Kofi Anon permission to lower the UN flag?

    On the other hand, perhaps he was going with the will of the majority. In excess of 2/3rds the membership of the UN being dictators, oppressors, drug dealers, torturers and major holders of Swiss bank accounts, an’ all. I wonder how much the King of Saudi Arabia bunged him to lower the flag.

    BTW, the funeral rivalled Khomeini’s for comedy potential.

  • GCooper

    Verity writes:

    “BTW, the funeral rivalled Khomeini’s for comedy potential.”

    I just want to know how many of the morons were injured by falling bullets. It seems to be beyond the power of the Palestinian mind to figure out that bullets fired into the air will, sure as eggs is eggs, fall to earth. Painfully.

  • Pete_London

    Rollo

    Thanks for clearing that one up. Care to explain why?

  • Verity

    G Cooper – Yes, but painfully enough?

  • The Wobbly Guy

    A_t-No-one does… show me one country that really values intelligence over ‘style’, whether that style is visual or otherwise, at election time; some countries seem to prefer a ‘sophisticated’ style, others an ‘unsophisticated’ one, but either way, so much hangs on it; far more so than ‘intelligence’.

    My own country, Singapore. Brilliant leaders and Prime Ministers, and they are indeed selected because of their ability and deep intellect. PM Lee has a 1st class honors in Maths from Oxford, IIRC, back in the days before grade inflation. Most of our leaders are economists, doctors, scientists, and engineers. Quite a bit less lawyers, and very few social science/arts graduates, because they generally suck. The innate meritocracy and elitism of our society leads people to vote for the most intelligent candidates, who almost always belong to the ruling party.

    Also, it is generally noted that our leaders lack ‘style’.

    BTW, I have lost all respect for the UN. I now hate it with a passion. How the hell could they lower the mast for Arafat?!?

    TWG

  • free

    The UN is packaged brilliantly. For most people, the UN is synonymous with ‘peace/democracy/charity/kindness’ etc.

    Even if they lower the flag when Arafat passed, or when they put Syria on the security council, or have Libya chair the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, or have countries like Syria or Sudan on that same comission, or have China lead their court in the Hague. If you’d watch these UN institutions, the chairs change in time, but the usual suspects are always there. One day chairing one council, the next day chairing a different. As the French say “the more it changes, the more it stays the same.”

  • Faust

    Arafat was confined to his crushed compound where he is buried now in complete incoherency…because Arafat’s word was worthless. No one in the entire world wanted to negotiate with a man who was absolutely useless when he “gave his word.”

    The word of an Arab terrorist is WORTHLESS. You see, Muslims are allowed to lie to infidels if it benefits their Islamic cause. It’s called “Taqija”.

    Arafat has become synonymous with any man who has no word to give, doesn’t keep his word. Useless men have no word. It is worse than not having any balls.

    Arafat it turns out ALSO didn’t have any balls either. He liked Anal Sex because he was a closet fudgepacker….. and it killed him.

    There is quite a mystery as to the old man’s death. Cancer, blood disorders, malutrition, poisening… whatever. AIDs-Xactly.

    The odds are that Arafat did have AIDS. It’s reported that Arafat’s headquarters many years ago used to have a number of blond German young men slouching around the place. Apparently, blonds were his preferred taste. Not only was he homosexual but that the fact was well known in his intimate circle. Later, as the rumors gathered force and seeped out to the world at large, Arafat arranged his pseudo marriage to his gold digging fat skanky “wife” Suha. She quickly bore him a child and then cashed in at her luxory Paris abode.

    And the Palestinian people put all their trust into a Totalitarian fairy who stole everything they had and left them completely impoverished and isolated, and without any leverage and certainly no respect.

    NOBODY respects a Palestinian. Everybody in the Arab world USES Palestinians. They get jobs in Arab countries as cleaners and broom jockeys. And the whores in the better hotels are Palestinians. Everybody gives a Palestinian a dime and then screws them. Nobody even in the Arab world likes the Palestinians. Do you know it’s easier for a Palestinian to immigrate to America than it is for a Paelstinian to immigrate to Saudi Arabia. So much for Muslim brotherhood eh.

    Cairo shoeshine boys are a step UP from being a Palestinian. And the only people lower than a Cairo Shoeshine boy are the Damascus toilet attendants who hand you a towel.

    Palestinians are what Arafat made them. And now that Arafat is taking the French “le Dirtnap eternal” we will see the Palestinians cannibalizing one another like stray dogs abandoned in a kennel for the damned. Watch them turn on each other like vicious scorpians in a bottle.

    The only people who can save the Palestinians are Sharon and Bush. The Devil finds that very funny. How about you?

    Or are the Palestinians now dealing from some position of strength?

    I actually once heard some Muslim say that the American Invasion of Iraq would be a blessing because it would force Arabs everywhere to unite and rise as a sigle force against the infidel. Well, the death of Arafat might be described the same way. It will finally force the Palestinians to look at themselves realistically and make them FINALLY make a decision which wasn’t some monumental DEATHWISH.

    You have to admit that EVERY decision Palestinians have EVER made in their entire history which doesn’t date back much before 1967 when they suddenly discovered their deep bond with the Land…has been one long an absurd Litany of blunders and incredible STUPIDITY. The Palestinians have got to hold the World Record for STUPID. The Palestinains never missed an oppotunity to miss an oppotunity. Look up the word ‘Stupid’ in the dictionary and you will find a picture of a Palestinian next to it. They are the type of people who shit in their shoes to keep their feet warm. Stupid is as Stupid Does.

    It takes a LOT of hard work to be as stupid as a Palestinian. They THREW their Nation away at Oslo, thanks to Arafat. Now they will have to take what Sharon GIVES them out of Charity, The Palestinians haven’t won anything, they will get Hebrew Charity. They haven’t EARNED anything. We are just going to pay them off and dump them.

    And they will be lucky to get it. But ,you know what I think will happen when Palestine gets a State.?

    The Palestinians will STILL not be able to handle it. They will all have bowel movements in their new digs and then complain about the stink. They will be right next door to Israel and they will STILL not be able to pick up their own garbage or build anything that won’t lean over and collapse. The Palestinians will be standing right there beside the Israelis and they will look like what they are, incompetent whining little midgets.

    And will the rest of the Arab world help the Palestinians to be successful? Will Syria help the Palestinians become a successful democratic government with freedom of speech? Will Saudi Arabia sponsor education and help build Palestinian Universities where Science and Learning are the beacon of Arab hope? Will talented men of high Arab Ideals flood into the new Palestinian State to uplift and inspire the world and make Palestine a major contender in art, technology and industry?

    You know what Arabs create. The Arabs will create in Palestine what Arabs create in their own countries… Fuck all. Do I need to say anything more? You know what Arabs create. They are Arabs.

    If it wasn’t for Western Greco-Judeo-Christian Civilization and all our modern innovations and technolgy, the Arabs would still be riding camels for a living and herding their goats to the next water hole.

    Forget about any chances of a new Palestinian state becoming a beacon of enlightenment and democracy in the Islamic Middle East. It will become just another totalitarian Arab piss-hole run by violenct thugs and theocratic dictators… just like all the others.

  • free

    Mind you, for me, the comment above is stale. Tasteless. The idea that the Palestinians are the worst of the Arab countries is an idea that just doesn’t hold. In fact, the Palestinians are only the waters on one shore of the general Arab sea. Badly affected by the tides and ideogies of that sea.

    One of the reasons the Palestinians find it so difficult to accept the idea of peace is because the Arab nationalist ocean they’re a part of, condemns the very idea, washes onto their waters – inecessantly – the idea of a “Proud Arab Victory”. They swim in that.

    Arafat loved that. For him, this is perfect! He took that strand of ideology and worked it up for all he was worth. He loved being the rider of the Arab nationalist war horses. There’s no doubt that Arafat was a commited terrorist, an ultra-nationalist, a pathological liar. His lies were uncanny and bizarre. A sweet example of his irrational behaviour and his tall tales is this one: http://supernatural.blogs.com/weblog/2004/11/my_tribute_to_t.html

    These were the kind of lies which made you wonder about his sanity. Outrageous, ridiculous, pathetic lies. So obviously made up. Stories about tanks where he knows no tanks exists. Stories of how the assasination of Israel’s tourist minister (for which the PFLP claimed responsibility) were commited by the Mossad. (I think he had a similiar theory about 9/11). Stories of how Israel “uses depleted uraniam” (NATO did in Serbia, but Israel didn’t). The list is endless. Infinite demonisation told by bizzare lies – often the kind which can so easily be disproved.

    But who can blame him??? The world and the media never complained, and this taught him that some people can make any outrageous claim they want and get away with it. He was one of the privileged ones.

    He was a man who feasted on blood. Who constantly demanded more and more. Endlessly repeatedly calls for more “martyrs”, “millions of martyrs”. He caused incredible damage to the middle east, to his own people and to the Israelis. He also pioneered international terrorism. Hijacking planes and blowing them up, taking over schools, holding the children hostage, killing them. This is all quite an achievement. It’s rare that one man can really shape history, and Arafat really was just such a leader. He did his best to turn Palestinian society into a fanatic one, bombarding them with messages of terror and blood – in their schools, in their Mosques, on their television screens.

    But what’s the point of calling the Palestinians ugly names per se? Things can still change! This type of hatred – whatever the causes – is somehow wrong. For example, why go and complain that Arafat had a fondness for men? It might be true, but that’s no reason to call him bad names. Who cares if he was a homosexual or a bisexual?

    Palestinians aren’t treated like garbage by the rest of the Arab world. They work also as engineers and as scientists. The Arab world uses them only in the sense that they’re happy for the Palestinians to be the spear-head of the Arabs against Israel.

    The Palestinians, unlike most Arab societies, know something about what democracy is. They watch Israeli television. They live too close to a democracy to allow themselves to be cheated of it. If Hamas doesn’t take control, the Palestinians will want to always have the choice of holding elections.

    The Palestinians might – if they ever decide peace is better than a combination of anhilation and ‘Victory’ – be the first democratic Arab society.

    Their culture has certain problems. This is undeniable. But to project hatred at them per-se is no way forward.

  • Faust

    There is a similarity between today’s Palestinian Arafat coffin swarming scenes and the 1989 funeral of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, at which mobs of millions (yes, millions) of Iranians stormed the funeral bier and tore Khomeini’s corpse apart in a frenzy to obtain magical relics—i.e., body parts.

    It was to prevent this sort of tearing the body apart “respect” for Arafat that motivated the Egyptians to hold Arafat’s funeral away from the crowds of people who attended the funeral. The Palestinian Police had their hands full to control the Palestinian crowds from doing the same thing to Arafat that the Iranians did to the dead Ayatollah.

    Do any of you remember the newsreels of the Khomeini funeral cortege? Mobs swarmed it from all sides, brought it to a complete halt and then knocked the body off the palanquin and proceeded to rip the corpse to pieces for souvenirs. It was all very uplifting and respectful, of course. Just the sort of thing you would expect from Moslem Values and respect for the dead…especially a spiritual leader of the magnitude of Khomeini.

    I enjoyed every minute of it.

    Arafat could have used some of the same. It was the least the Palestinians could have done to knock his casket to pieces and crack it open with their bare hands and dismember the corpse in the tried and true Moslem way …for souvenirs.

    Exactly where would you put your body part of a dead Arafat Corpse if you were a Palestinian Moslem? Would you put it in the refrigerator…providing of course that you HAD a refrigerator. Would you pack it in salt for later? Or invite Granny round for a weekend BBQ? Would you show it to your neighbors or perhaps you could donate it to the local Mosque for veneration?

    Moslems are always deeply religious and respect for the dead is something everyone in the world knows…just look at the newsreels…well, perhaps it is a Moslem custom to swarm coffins and rip the corpse apart. Especially the bodies of “spiritual” leaders. And Arafat was nothing if not a very “spiritual” man. I know you will agree.

    Mustard anyone, or would you prefer some pickle with your fried Arafat?

  • PJ

    The world missed it’s opportunity to rid itself of the “Palestinian” terrorist yesterday.

  • John

    What Amerians really think of Arafart(Link):

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – CBS News has fired the producer responsible for interrupting the last five minutes of a hit crime drama with a special report on the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a network source said on Friday.

    Word of the dismissal came a day after CBS apologized to viewers for breaking into “CSI: NY,” one of its top-rated shows, on Wednesday night.

    “An overly aggressive CBS News producer jumped the gun with a report that should have been offered to local stations for their late news. We sincerely regret the error,” the network said in a statement on Thursday.

  • John

    OKAY, I left the “c” out of Americans.

  • Ted Schuerzinger

    John wrote:

    OKAY, I left the “c” out of Americans.

    Ah, but did you call him “Arafart” on purpose? 🙂

  • John

    Ted:

    Absolutely!

  • One minor correction: Now, on top of everything else, he’ll smell worse. No … I’m wrong. After Ramallah, the smell could only improve. Never mind.

  • David Carr, please come back. Your oppressed minority (a.k.a. British libertarians, both of them) needs you. It’s got so bad not having you around, that I’ve had to start my own blog to give vent to the sort of opinions I used to enjoy reading every day on the David Carr show. But we don’t need feeble ersatz, we need the real McCoy. So stop shilly-shallying there. It’s time to start writing again.

    Rgds,
    A.Fan