"Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into
contracts."
Nelson Mandela from prison
Recently there was an article in The Observer
by Peter Beaumont about Palestinian President Yasser Arafat being a
leader basically of nothing.
However, walls, locks and prison doors do not a
prisoner keep. Arafat’s personage may be confined but nevertheless,
his mind is free and he is still the leader of the Palestinian
people. The fact that he is under house arrest and even town arrest
are possibly more inspiring than if he were able to move from one
place to another. His very detention is but yet another somber
symbol of the total siege of the Palestinian people themselves.
Beaumont goes on to say that Arafat’s confinement
has led to not only his isolation from his own people, but from "his
old friends in the Arab world." Yet it is hardly visible what Arab
leaders have contributed to the Palestinian cause for the past 54
years much less to the 16 month old Intifada. Yes, there have been
flowing speeches, as flowing as some of the garb the billionaire
leaders adorn themselves with, but verbosity and eloquent words help
no one as long as it is only lip service. Perhaps the Arab leaders
in their rhetorical flowing speeches have even shed a tear or two
for sport, but the Palestinian people themselves were sold out long
ago and have been left almost entirely on their own to resist, with
little but their bare hands, the brutal oppression and occupation of
the Jewish racist state of Israel.
Israel is the fourth greatest military power in the
world, thanks to the benevolence of the American government. It has
the latest American weapons at its disposal and possesses weapons of
mass destruction. Israel does not hesitate to use its arms against
the Palestinian civilian population and everyone is a target from
newborn, to schoolchild, to pregnant woman, to the elderly. No one
is safe from bombs dropped by F-16 planes, from the bombardment of
Apache helicopters or from the machine guns of Israeli soldiers.
Yet US President George W. Bush voices his anger
about the 50 tons of rockets and ammunition that were allegedly
being smuggled into Gaza and he nearly chokes on another pretzel
whenever an Israeli is killed. I just don’t get it. Something very
vital is missing. Why is Israel allowed to have all the weapons and
the go-ahead to kill Palestinians, but Palestinians are not even
allowed to defend themselves?
Even if Arafat is done away with by the Israelis,
his death will not mean the end of the Palestinian people. Quite the
opposite, his detention inspires every true freedom lover and he
could become a worldwide symbol of resistance just as Nelson Mandela
was during the 26 years of his incarceration. Even if Arafat were
killed, his death just might lead his people forward to victory just
as the death of the Scotch freedom fighter William Wallace did for
his fellow countrymen.
Out of their ashes, proud and strong like the
Phoenix, the Palestinians rise.
