PALESTINE WITHOUT ARAFAT. IMMINENT STORM IN DESERT?
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
26 Nov 04
Recently the burning issue in the world has been the state of health
of Arafat who deceased on November 11. And it is natural because
for decades this man was the unchanging and well-known leader of
the Palestinian people and his death will have a great influence not
only on Palestine but also the entire Near East. The reason of this
close connection between Palestine and its leader is that Arafat was
not merely the head of autonomy but the charismatic leader of its
people. The death of such a leader usually creates a kind of vacuum
which is refilled either very slowly or never. It is especially
difficult for the countries and people who are either at war or in a
crucial stage of development. Palestine was passing through such a
stage. And because of the fact that the Palestinian problem is related
to the Arab-Israel rather than the Palestine-Israel relationships, on
the whole it has a considerable effect on the political situation in
the Near East. Today, taking into account the increasing influence of
international terrorism, it is not favourable for anyone, especially
the main figures in the region and particularly the USA. To get a
complete idea of the role of Arafat for the Palestinians, it would be
proper to cast a look at his biography. First, it should be mentioned
that there are a number of contradicting facts in his biography which,
by the way, the leader never denied or confirmed, thus creating a
mysterious myth around his name. Yassir Arafat was born on August 24,
1929 in Jerusalem, in the family of salesman Abdel Rauf who worked in
the police of the Ottoman empire in his youth. His wife Zakhva belonged
to the famous family Abu Saud in Jerusalem. The complete name of Arafat
is Muhammad Abdel Rauf Arafat al-Kudva al-Huseini. Later at college
he took the name â~@~Yassirâ~@~] which means â~@~carefreeâ~@~]. In
1933 Arafatâ~@~Ys mother died and his father, unable to bring up his
children alone, sent 4-years-old Yassir and his younger brother to
their uncle in Jerusalem. Three years later Abdel Rauf married for
the second time and brought the children back to him, where Yassir
stayed until his adolescence. His first steps into politics bear
the traces of the valley of Nile. In the years of his studies he was
close with the â~@~Brother Muslimsâ~@~] although he did not belong to
them. He was engaged in military training organized by the Islamists
in the territory of the University of Cairo. As an orthodox Muslim
he prayed 5 times a day, did not use alcohol and fasted in the holy
month of Ramadan. The â~@~brothersâ~@~] were alone to appeal to
continue jihad against Israel. Among them he met his future brothers
in arms Abu Ayad, Abu Jihad, and many others. There was one who
interested him; it was Gamal Abdel Nassir who had dethroned King
Pharuk of Egypt among the group â~@~Free Officersâ~@~] . Arafat
was also persecuted. In 1954 he was arrested for a short period.
Three years later, with the diploma of an engineer in his pocket,
Arafat left for Kuwait. Here the national liberation movement was
being born in the face of several rebels who had no munitions and
were 1200 km away from the front line. Once in the evening (in
1958) five persons gathered secretly in the capital of the emirate
and decided to start a war for the liberation of Palestine. In the
beginning they issued a newspaper â~@~Phalastinunaâ~@~] (â~@~Our
Palestineâ~@~]). A year later they named themselves â~@~Phathaâ~@~]
which means â~@~Movement for Liberation of Palestineâ~@~] and finally
they chose military names for themselves. According to the Arabian
tradition, they use the name of their elder son, but Yassir Arafat,
still a bachelor, became â~@~Abu Ammarâ~@~]. As distinct from Arabian
nationalists they did not anticipate anything from the existing regimes
which were, in their opinion, exhausted. All of them had got education
in Cairo or Beirut, at one time they believed in Islamists, had been
in prison. However, in their small group Yassir Arafat held a special
position. At the time of the disaster in 1948, unlike his friends,
he had been away from the homeland and did not know what expatriate
meant or what refugee camps were. His revolutionary romanticism
was nourished by abstract ideas about Palestine, his wish to create
an independent state was not related to a particular plot of land,
and suffering was a collective one. Many years later this devotion
made him easier in reference to making compromises in territorial
questions. On April 1, 1965 an unknown organization â~@~Al Asifaâ~@~]
(â~@~Stormâ~@~]) assumed the responsibility for the blast in the
pumping station in Israel. Arafat had chosen this name for signing
the information on the military actions. The message in handwriting
sent to the newspapers of Beirut caused surprise. Whereas, the action
that Arafat ascribed to himself had not taken place for the group
which had to put explosives had been arrested by the security bodies
of Lebanon. The bloodshed had started already. The guerillas took
action by action against the Jewish state. After the war in 1967 Arafat
left for the west bank of the river Jordan. He hid from persecution
for several months and tried to organize the local population but
soon he had to leave for the other occupied bank of Jordan. In the
capital of Jordan Amman they challenged the court every day. Arafat
strengthened by victories became the leader of the Organization for
Liberation of Palestine. The organization founded by Naser in 1964
with the hope of trying to control Palestinian nationalism avoided
the Arab influence. The radical groups, including the Peopleâ~@~Ys
Front of Liberation of Palestine announces themselves by hijacking
planes. On September 6, 1970 the air pirates hijacked three airplanes
and made them land in the northern outskirt of Amman. This event
exhausted the patience of the northern king and he decided to
return his power through force. His well-armed troops easily won and
Yassir Arafat managed to escape. The Palestinian soldiers craved for
revenge. Several members of â~@~Phathaâ~@~] who called themselves
â~@~ Black Septemberâ~@~] (in the memory of the tragic events of
September) organized terrorist actions one after another. During the
Olympic games in Munchen 1972 one of the groups attacked the Israelite
delegation; several people died. Yassir Arafat insisted that he had
no connection with this terrorist action but he was aware of the
terrorist plans of his people and for the first time he preferred to
concede the main role to others. He was a very prudent person. In
1974 Arafat who was known internationally separated himself from
terrorism. At the UN General Assembly he announced that he held the
gun in one hand and the laurel branch in the other and begged not to
let him lose the branch. Soon Arafat was banished from Jordan and
found a refuge in Lebanon where his appearance aggravated tensions
among the Maronit, Sunni, Shiite and Drooz communities. On April 13,
1975 war burst out in the country. Everyone fought, the progressives
against the conservatives, Christians against Muslims, clans against
other clans. The country was torn to parts, and bandits took the power
in severed Beirut. The leader of the Organization for Liberation
of Palestine got easily adapted to this chaotic situation. Owing
to the generous assistance of the countries of the Persian Gulf he
became the leader of one of the large companies, directed hospitals,
newspapers, factories, schoolsâ~@¦ his military and economic power
and later his diplomatic success finally started to worry Israel. On
June 6, 1952 the Israeli army attacked Lebanon. The defence minister
then Ariel Sharon secretly from his government planned destroying the
Organization for Liberation of Palestine. The siege of Beirut lasted
for 12 weeks and during this period the Israeli planes scrutinized
for the leader of Palestine, while the American diplomats negotiated
for the withdrawal of guerillas. At the end of August Arafat left
Lebanon. The president of Tunisia Habib Burgiba confessed that he was
ready to accept Arafat but alone, without his groups. The latter were
â~@~ dissolvedâ~@~] in the Arab world. The new life began outside
the homeland. In order not to lose the control over the situation
in November of 1988 he achieved the division of the Holy Land into
two parts. The aid rendered to Saddam Hussein during the war in the
Persian Gulf crushed his peacemaking efforts depriving him of the
sums paid by the large oil companies. After the defeat of Iraq the
diplomatic process was resumed and this time the conditions were
dictated by the USA. The Organization for Liberation of Palestine
on the verge of bankruptcy and isolation was formally left out of
the list of participants in the peace talks in Madrid. However, soon
Arafat managed to save the Organization and achieved the longed-for
international recognition. Soon he became the chairman of the National
Administration and was even awarded the Nobel Peace prize. In June
2000 an agreement was signed in Camp David and the Palestinians made
compromises but soon the prime minister of Israel E. Barak announced
that it is impossible to achieve peace with Arafat. Later there was
an opportunity to sign a new agreement but it was late. With Ariel
Sharon terrorist actions started and the situation became inadequate
for signing a peace agreement. Yassir Arafat remained in Ramallah and
in 2002 George Bush called him politically dead. It was the reason why
during the elections in the USA Arafat openly supported the opponent
of Bush Senator Kerry. To accelerate the leave of Arafat from politics
the USA imposed on him the prime minister Mahmud Abas who was made by
Arafat to resign however. And up to the end he remained at the head of
the political games in Palestine. Yassir Arafat died without naming his
heir. In this situation it is natural that a struggle should begin for
power in Palestine. Most experts say he will be succeeded by either
Mahmud Abas or Ahmed Kurei. Both are mature people but their Tunisian
background will hardly be respected among the common people. Pharuk
Kadumi also has serious levers of influence, who replaced Arafat
as the head of â~@~Phathaâ~@~]. Serious struggle for power is
expected in Palestine. By the way, Kadumi was among the first to
announce about this. He stated that those who think he will resign
are mistaken. And the attempt to kill Mahmud Abas during the funeral
of Arafat testifies to the fact that the open struggle has already
started even before the leader was buried. Of course, it cannot be
denied that Palestine could have changed the power in comparatively
stable and quiet conditions. And if it is the case Palestine will
prove to the world that they are ready to have their own state.
DAVIT BABAYAN. 25-11-2004
–Boundary_(ID_AmynRZ0T8p04IWbIFekf/A)–