IT WOULD seem that the media is happy to have something else to report besides the defeat of John Kerry. The media has latched on to the death of Yasser Arafat and for a couple days, I really felt like I was watching the all-terrorist channel when I turned on CNN. From the online quote and photo galleries on mainstream news Web sites to the solemn live reports, the media has taken to lionizing a terrorist thug who has single-handedly set back the peace process in the Middle East for many years.
First and foremost, Arafat was a terrorist. From the beginnings of his Al Fatah organization in the 1970s to the modern push for suicide bombings, Arafat has consistently demonstrated his willingness to use terrorism to advance his cause. Arafat's preferred method of persuasion in the modern day was the suicide bomber. Through the hateful indoctrination led by Arafat and his organization, many young Palestinians were convinced to throw away their lives only to kill innocent civilians. Arafat knew these attacks were not a valid way to promote peace, but he also knew they would ensure his power.
Starting in the 1970s, the terrorist wing of Arafat's Al Fatah, called Black September, carried out of a number of heinous attacks on Israeli and U.S. interests. In 1972, Black September brutally murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich. The following year, the same group attacked the Saudi embassy in the Sudan where several U.S. officials, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed in an especially brutal fashion. The only way Arafat knew to gain power was terrorism.
For years Arafat derailed the Middle East peace process. Between the end of the first Gulf War and the Camp David accords, countless treaties were negotiated and signed by Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority. In fact the PA is still operating under the original Palestinian Liberation Organization covenant which calls for nothing less than the destruction of Israel. The fundamental problem with so many of the various accords reached with Arafat was all he had to do was trade promises of peace for legitimacy.
The Oslo Accords dictated that the PA would work to dismantle terrorist organizations and place terrorists in jail. In fact, quite the opposite has taken place. There is evidence that the PA was actually aiding and abetting the terrorists, while "making peace" with Israel. The PA is contractually committed to stopping the glorification of those who commit violence against Israel, but there exist numerous records showing Arafat praising suicide bombers as martyrs. Arafat's organization is still barely more than a front for terrorists spewing their message of hate.
This is not to say that Arafat did not profit from the peace process. In 2003, Forbes Magazine estimated that Arafat was worth $300 million. Where did such a person acquire such vast wealth? According to the International Monetary Fund, donations to Palestine have been steady at about one billion dollars a year since 2000. A good deal of these donations go directly to Arafat himself. The BBC reported that under the terms of a treaty, Arafat had been personally receiving funds generated by taxes collected by Israel from the Palestians. These funds were not deposited in an account under Arafat's control, but instead in his own personal accounts. This was ostensibly so he could spend the money freely to help the Palestinians. Sources have estimated that Arafat's wife, who has been living in Paris, has been blowing through about $100,000 a month. Arafat had been spending ridiculous sums of money and he had managed to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars
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