While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still alive. But
his life is hanging on a thread.
When we visited him the last time in his bombed-out
Mukata’ah compound in Ramallah, I warned him that Sharon is determined to
kill him.
Everybody acquainted with Sharon knows that he never lets
go. When he does not achieve his aim the first time, he tries again, and
again, and again, and again. Never, ever, does he give up.
Already in besieged Beirut, at the height of the Lebanon
war, Sharon was trying to put his hands on him. Dozens of agents, mostly
Phalanges members, were combing the western quarters in order to catch
him. He evaded them, as he has evaded dozens of assassination attempts
before and after, by Abu-Nidal (who was at least partly a Mossad hireling)
and others.
Now Sharon believes that he can achieve his aim. He needs
only Bush’s approval. Not necessarily a formal confirmation. A subtle hint
will suffice. Half a word. A wink.
It will be easy to implement the decision. An incident can
be put in motion: soldiers enter the office in order to capture "wanted"
people, somebody opens fire, Arafat will be shot "by accident". Arafat may
draw his pistol, soldiers will "have no alternative" but to return fire. A
shell may hit the office "by mistake", Arafat will be buried under the
rubble. After all, in war accidents happen. A lot of accidents.
Sharon never wanted to "deport" Arafat to Gaza or any
other place in this world. He wants to deport him to the next world. Now
this is possible.
Therefore, it is necessary to speak out bluntly and
unequivocally:
Morally, the murder of Arafat, the historical leader and
elected president of the Palestinian people, is reprehensible. Like the
murder of Rabin.
Legally, the murder of Arafat is a war crime.
Politically, it will be said about the murder of Arafat
what a French statesman said about another political murder: "It is worse
than a crime, it is a mistake!"
Arafat is the man who decided, 28 years ago, to start on
the road to a settlement with Israel, in order to realize this way the
national aspirations of the Palestinian people. At the time, that was an
incredibly bold decision, and he took it long before Rabin and Peres even
dreamed about Oslo. I know, because I was an eye-witness to the beginnings
of the process.
Since then, Arafat has not changed by one iota the
decision he took then: to seek conciliation with Israel within the
framework of peace that will include an independent Palestinian state,
return to the pre-1967 border with mutually agreed adjustments, Jerusalem
capital of both states, withdrawal of the settlers, suitable security
arrangements, a mutually agreed solution of the refugee problem.
On this basis, peace is possible even now. Immediately.
But Sharon rejects is with both his fists. He wants a
Greater Israel, the
extension of the settlements, and, eventually, the elimination of the
Palestinian presence west of the Jordan.
The assertion of Ehud Barak that Arafat has rejected his
own peace plan is a blatant lie, that has caused a historical disaster.
Barak’s "generous offers" were far from the sensible solution.
Now, as before, Arafat is the only person capable of
signing a peace agreement and convince his people to accept and implement
it. No other Palestinian leader capable of doing so is to be seen on the
horizon. Leadership of the Palestinian people will not pass into the hands
of the "moderates", who will look like collaborators and accomplices to
the murder, but into the hands of the extremists, fanatics thirsting for
revenge.
The murder of Arafat is the murder of all chances for
peace.
That is a crime against the Israeli people. It will
condemn us to making war for decades, perhaps for generations to come,
perhaps forever. The moral, social and economic decline that we are
experiencing now everywhere in Israel will drag Israel down to new depths
and to the emigration of many.
The dead Arafat will become a legend of heroism to his
people and a new Che Guevara to the world. His mistakes will be forgotten.
For future generations of Palestinians, he will become a role model.
Hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims, from Morocco to Indonesia, will
compare their own leaders to the dead Arafat, and the comparison will be
fatal.
In the eyes of these hundreds of millions, Israel and Jews
will become a synonym of betrayal, killing and lying. The poisonous plant
of anti-Semitism will bloom as never before. Already we are tasting a
small sample of this
If this disaster happens, all the government will share
the blame. Not one minister will be acquitted. Neither Ben-Eliezer, nor
Peres, nor any of their colleagues. Nor the army officers who cooperated
and even pushed the political leadership. Nor the members of the Knesset,
whether belonging to the coalition or the opposition, who kept quite
during the recent months. Nor the correspondents and commentators, who
turned themselves into government and army spokesmen. Nor the professors
and intellectuals, who saw and were silent. All of them will bear the
responsibility.
This is the last minute to get up and shout: NO!
[The author has closely followed the career of Sharon for four decades.
Over the years, he has written three extensive biographical essays about
him, two (1973, 1981) with his cooperation.]
