So what does anybody think will happen now? civil war? A solution to the arab /israel problem on the distant horizon?
The old thread was way off topic, so this will be the new one. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/10/arafat.obit/index.html
Thats whats going to happen now , well half the world will say good riddance, the other half will mourn a great man. Maybe there will be some progress now?
I heard Sharone sacrificed a goat when he heard and a Christian child too... for the matzos Arafat is dead bismillah rakhman wa-rakhim, ALLAHU AKBAR!!! yes he got to live a long life which he did not deserve, yes he did not answer for his genocidal crimes, and yes i did not get to stab him in the eye with a rusty screw driver like i had day dreamed so many times before. but 1) he had not died a death of a warrior which robs him of that status and path to those 72 hairy-legged virgins, and 2) he died away from "Palestine". i'm sure it made his last moments a little more miserable, and i am happy for that. i am torn apart here... half of me wants a massive civil war in "Palestine" so they'll tear each other apart like the corrupt, money- and power hungry murdering savages that they are, which will lead to the downfall of this whole "Palestine country" bullshit business.... while the other half of me wants a responsible "Palestinian" leadership to emerge, straighten its house, and make a final and everlasting peace with Israel based on capitulating to murderers and giving them away chunks of Israeli Jewish land. i am very skeptical about the latter (you become a skeptic after dealing with Arafat's broken promisses and deliberate lies for so long), so i am more inclined towards supporting the former. however the latter would be better of course. Arafat, there is a special place reserved just for you, now that you're dead... and there ain't no virgins there, bitch.
Most likely it will be Arafat's unofficial and previously estranged second-in- command, Mahmoud Abbas. :m: Peace.
On the whole Arafat's passing is a positive development. He was a favorite excuse for Likud and Bush administrations to put off the dismantling of Israeli apartheid. Now that excuse is gone. I wish Arafat had stayed a civil engineer, and had never contributed to the destruction of Lebanon for Palestine's sake, and the stigmatization of Palestinians and Arabs as terrorists in the minds of millions with only a very superficial grasp of modern mideastern history. Here's hoping that Palestinians can raise up a true statesman and reformer now that Arafat is out of the way. Anticipation of some sort of violent power-struggle in his wake is curious to me- I think that speaks more to the distorted image of Palestinian society in the West, than it does to the realities of life under occupation and exile at the hands of Israel, and the realities of the legitimate Palestinian struggle for the most basic of civil rights. Palestinians have no chance at reclaiming their dignity until they overcome negative stereotypes in the USA, from whence Israeli apartheid is propped up. New leadership is an opportunity for some new clarity.
Ah, yes, unbiased and thoughtful as always, otheadp. what do you want? I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. lol Most likely it will be Arafat's unofficial and previously estranged second-in- command, Mahmoud Abbas actually the leader of the PLO now becomes Farouk Kaddoumi, who is a hardliner http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/500342.html
Well now the onus is on the Israeli's their excuse is gone, they now have to take who ever gets into power in the elections that will happen within 60 days I believe seriously. Sharon can't bitch and whine about Arafat anymore (nor do I suspect the future Pal leader will bitch about Sharon, he will probably die from a settlers bullet). Arafat's death now makes Israel the one who is under the international eye. I wonder will Israel get rid of her "temporary" wall should the new Pal leader be a effective one? If not then Israel will show her true colours (land grab).
He died for the better of the Palestinians. Hopefully Mahmoud Abbas won't think of starting a civil war.
inshallah to that. ^^^ goofyfish, yea.. i misunderstood. the guy i mentioned will head Fatah. and Abbas will head the PLO. it's funny though. Fatah is the armed faction of the PLO, yet the armed faction of the PLO has its own armed faction called "al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades" - now renamed the "Yasser Arafat Brigades" funny.. it's as if they're trying to look like they have a proper structure... like a real government Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
It's tragic that the wellbeing and social cohesion of an entire people - a wannabe nation, in fact - seems to be so dependent on a single individual. Arafat ought to have forseen this uncertainty and provided for a smooth succession of power in Palestine after his own demise, whenever that might have been. Not to speak ill of the dead (call me a hypocrite if you want) but I tend to distrust any leader who remains in power for the term of his natural life.
True, the palestines need some democratic system to become a trustworthy negotiating partner for the israelis, I think the Israelis for the time being just wait and see wich way the PA is going......
