Arafat Promoted

Let’s begin by the worse and assume as true that the 50 tons of missiles, mortars and mines stocked aboard the Karine A, were destined to the Palestinians in the supposedly-P.A’s controlled territories! Why not after all? Those people are day and night under the Israeli fire since Sharon climbed upon his compatriot’s chronic paranoia to power. Who among them would ever forget how under his supervision about two thousand civilians had been butchered in Sabra and Shatila refugees’ camps? If there was a justice in this world, people like Sharon should be serving a life sentence in jail, not glorified and honored as heads of government. But if some Israelis were enough cynical and self-hating to elevate a warmonger and a criminal to the rank of Prime Minister, why should the Palestinians not have the right to defend themselves? Would they be more acceptable to the International community if they allow Sharon’s soldiers to destroy them without raising a hand to defend their children, their women, their parents and their houses? Should they behave like sheep and allow the over-armed Israel to crush them in order to satisfy the hypocrites who are talking about peace and stuffing Israel with all kinds of weapons, since about half a century? Why should the Palestinians feel guilty for wanting to protect themselves from the madness of that butcher disguised in Prime Minister, whereas nobody in the hypocrite “international community” finds it abnormal that the Israelis are still occupying the territories they had recognized them as belonging to the P.A.? What has the “international community” done to show that the Peace Process, with its numerous accords, still means a lot in this region? Why was it so difficult to send neutral observers and monitors of the cease-fire? And now would they blame the Palestinians for that shipment of weaponry and take Sharon’s word for biblical sayings?

What have the Israelis brought as evidence against the P.A’s involvement with that affair?

Nothing, but mere pretensions easily discredited. Israeli Chief of General Staff, Shaul Mofaz said: ” we have information all these weapons we see behind us were to be brought to the Gaza coast and from there to Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza strip”! Is it with such hollow phrases that he intends to persuade the world? The answer is yes. And his boss, Sharon, thought it wiser to remind the reporters and the diplomats, during the same “show” that ” Arafat chooses to buy long-range Katyusha rockets instead of investing in children’s education”! And nobody reminded Sharon that it is his army who took the responsibility of “educating” the Palestinian children in the streets, as schools have been closed if they escaped Israeli bombs and missiles!

Henceforth, please take notice of Arafat’s promotion: he is no longer merely “irrelevant”, but has progressed in Sharon’s eyes to become Israel’s “most bitter enemy”! Now, he is straightforward linked to “the center of world terror”, which is not Israel é loin s’en faut! – but Iran, who has just denied any knowledge of the shipment or the ship!

Hichem Karoui is a writer and journalist living in Paris, France.