Arafat and how the Mideast conflict started
Arafat and how the Mideast conflict started
Updated 11:12pm (Mla time) Nov 14, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 15, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
YASSER Arafat was a paradox, a man of contradictions: denounced as a terrorist but a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with his Israeli enemies, then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres; despised by the Israelis but loved by the Palestinians; a villain to much of the Western world but a hero to the Arabs; a fighter who, by his own admission, carried an olive branch in one hand and a gun in the other.
Even in death, he personifies contradictions. Half of the world mourns his demise, while the other half rejoices. Israelis believe his death will at last bring peace to the Middle East. But others fear it could spark a new wave of violence.
Arafat called himself a "freedom fighter," but he was widely known as a "terrorist." As leader of the Al Fatah movement that became the core of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, he sent gunmen to hijack airliners, machine-gun airports and, at one time, to seize and kill Israeli athletes bound for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
But the early leaders of the Jewish Zionist movement were "terrorists" themselves although they also called themselves "freedom fighters." Many of them became prime ministers of Israel. Without terrorism, Israel probably would not have been born. Without Arafat-who probably learned from the Zionist movement-there would be no Palestine nation now. Like the Israeli leaders, Arafat, the Arab terrorist, became the president of his people. Ironically, the early leaders of the two bitterly warring nations, Israel and Palestine, were birds of the same feather, brothers under the skin.
Arafat died before his dream of a separate, independent Palestinian state became a reality. But when an independent Palestine is born, Arafat will surely be hailed as its founder.
When the history of the Middle East is written, the Western world and the Arab world would have different versions. Arafat would be a villain in one but a hero in the other. History, after all, is written by the victors. Had Germany and Japan won World War II, Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo would have been hailed as heroes, and Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill would have been reviled as war criminals. And it would have been Gen. Douglas MacArthur who would have been hanged by Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, and not the other way around.
The Middle East conflict has been going on for a long time. When you think about it, it goes back to the biblical times, back to the time Moses parted the Red Sea as he led the Hebrews out of Egypt and out of bondage; and to the time Joshua brought them to the Promised Land-now the site of the present Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip (the latter two are occupied by the Palestinians).
The Hebrews said this land of milk and honey was promised to them by God. Unfortunately, there were already tribes living there. They were the ancestors of the Palestinians who claim they have more right to the land (earlier called Palestine) than the Hebrews, or Jews, or Israelis, who came later. In modern times, the Hebrews would be called "squatters" or "informal settlers."
But the Hebrews waged war on the tribes and founded their own kingdom of Israel that flowered during the reigns of King Solomon and King David. Israel later divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Divided, they were successively conquered by invading armies and the Jewish people dispersed and ceased to be a nation.
But the dispersed Jews never ceased to dream of going back to the homeland. The Zionist movement to establish the state of Israel was born. The League of Nations was sympathetic to the idea, but World War II interfered. The Holocaust, during which Jews in Europe were gassed to death in Hitler's concentration camps, gave the movement urgency.
After the war, the United Nations carved the state of Israel in the Middle East. The Arab world opposed this and when the Israeli state was born, armies from the surrounding Arab countries attacked it. That was the famous Six-Day War that Israel won decisively. The Arabs waged succeeding wars but were always defeated. This resulted in Israel occupying border territories that they refuse to return on the ground that they serve as a buffer zone against the hostile raids by Palestinian guerrillas.
Arafat and the PLO were able to win some form of autonomy for the Palestinians, but they insist on an independent state. In return, Israel wants to be accepted as an independent state with a right to be there. Both sides refuse to give in. And there the matter stands. Many people on both sides have already died-and more will surely die-because of this stubbornness.
It is said that the enmity between the Jews and the Arabs goes farther back than Moses and Joshua, back to Abraham. According to the Bible, Abraham had a wife, Sarah, who couldn't beget a child, so Abraham took his maid and had a son by her. Later, however, Sarah gave birth to her own son. As most wives usually do, she nagged Abraham to get rid of the maid and her son. And like most husbands, Abraham caved in to the wife's nagging and cast the poor maid and her son into the desert.
In the desert, as the boy lay dying of thirst, the maid prayed to God to save her son. An angel appeared to her and said they would be saved. Water flowed from under the boy. It became a spring from where they drank, and they were saved. It is said that the Arabs descended from this boy and that the Jews descended from the son of Sarah.
* * *
TODAY'S JOKE: Lady outside phone booth to man on phone: "Excuse me, sir, you've had the phone for the past 30 minutes but you haven't said a word."
Man: "Puwede ba, I'm talking to my wife."
Updated 11:12pm (Mla time) Nov 14, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 15, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
YASSER Arafat was a paradox, a man of contradictions: denounced as a terrorist but a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with his Israeli enemies, then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres; despised by the Israelis but loved by the Palestinians; a villain to much of the Western world but a hero to the Arabs; a fighter who, by his own admission, carried an olive branch in one hand and a gun in the other.
Even in death, he personifies contradictions. Half of the world mourns his demise, while the other half rejoices. Israelis believe his death will at last bring peace to the Middle East. But others fear it could spark a new wave of violence.
Arafat called himself a "freedom fighter," but he was widely known as a "terrorist." As leader of the Al Fatah movement that became the core of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, he sent gunmen to hijack airliners, machine-gun airports and, at one time, to seize and kill Israeli athletes bound for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
But the early leaders of the Jewish Zionist movement were "terrorists" themselves although they also called themselves "freedom fighters." Many of them became prime ministers of Israel. Without terrorism, Israel probably would not have been born. Without Arafat-who probably learned from the Zionist movement-there would be no Palestine nation now. Like the Israeli leaders, Arafat, the Arab terrorist, became the president of his people. Ironically, the early leaders of the two bitterly warring nations, Israel and Palestine, were birds of the same feather, brothers under the skin.
Arafat died before his dream of a separate, independent Palestinian state became a reality. But when an independent Palestine is born, Arafat will surely be hailed as its founder.
When the history of the Middle East is written, the Western world and the Arab world would have different versions. Arafat would be a villain in one but a hero in the other. History, after all, is written by the victors. Had Germany and Japan won World War II, Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo would have been hailed as heroes, and Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill would have been reviled as war criminals. And it would have been Gen. Douglas MacArthur who would have been hanged by Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, and not the other way around.
The Middle East conflict has been going on for a long time. When you think about it, it goes back to the biblical times, back to the time Moses parted the Red Sea as he led the Hebrews out of Egypt and out of bondage; and to the time Joshua brought them to the Promised Land-now the site of the present Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip (the latter two are occupied by the Palestinians).
The Hebrews said this land of milk and honey was promised to them by God. Unfortunately, there were already tribes living there. They were the ancestors of the Palestinians who claim they have more right to the land (earlier called Palestine) than the Hebrews, or Jews, or Israelis, who came later. In modern times, the Hebrews would be called "squatters" or "informal settlers."
But the Hebrews waged war on the tribes and founded their own kingdom of Israel that flowered during the reigns of King Solomon and King David. Israel later divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Divided, they were successively conquered by invading armies and the Jewish people dispersed and ceased to be a nation.
But the dispersed Jews never ceased to dream of going back to the homeland. The Zionist movement to establish the state of Israel was born. The League of Nations was sympathetic to the idea, but World War II interfered. The Holocaust, during which Jews in Europe were gassed to death in Hitler's concentration camps, gave the movement urgency.
After the war, the United Nations carved the state of Israel in the Middle East. The Arab world opposed this and when the Israeli state was born, armies from the surrounding Arab countries attacked it. That was the famous Six-Day War that Israel won decisively. The Arabs waged succeeding wars but were always defeated. This resulted in Israel occupying border territories that they refuse to return on the ground that they serve as a buffer zone against the hostile raids by Palestinian guerrillas.
Arafat and the PLO were able to win some form of autonomy for the Palestinians, but they insist on an independent state. In return, Israel wants to be accepted as an independent state with a right to be there. Both sides refuse to give in. And there the matter stands. Many people on both sides have already died-and more will surely die-because of this stubbornness.
It is said that the enmity between the Jews and the Arabs goes farther back than Moses and Joshua, back to Abraham. According to the Bible, Abraham had a wife, Sarah, who couldn't beget a child, so Abraham took his maid and had a son by her. Later, however, Sarah gave birth to her own son. As most wives usually do, she nagged Abraham to get rid of the maid and her son. And like most husbands, Abraham caved in to the wife's nagging and cast the poor maid and her son into the desert.
In the desert, as the boy lay dying of thirst, the maid prayed to God to save her son. An angel appeared to her and said they would be saved. Water flowed from under the boy. It became a spring from where they drank, and they were saved. It is said that the Arabs descended from this boy and that the Jews descended from the son of Sarah.
* * *
TODAY'S JOKE: Lady outside phone booth to man on phone: "Excuse me, sir, you've had the phone for the past 30 minutes but you haven't said a word."
Man: "Puwede ba, I'm talking to my wife."
posted by Dante at 12:00 AM
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