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Source: http://www.forward.com/main/printer-friendly.php?ref=dershowitz200411171148
Arafat Died an Uncontrite Terrorist
(Forward)Alan Dershowitz - Arafat changed the nature of terrorism forever, by killing on a wholesale rather than a retail scale, by internationalizing it, and by employing it as a tactic to gain recognition for a cause. He proved to the world that terrorism can be made to work. By showing a willingness to kill so many innocent people, he managed to persuade naive world leaders that, exitus acta probat, his cause must be compelling and just. The message that so many leaders sent to other would-be terrorists with religious or political ambitions was that important people will deal with you, recognize you, even praise you while you are still engaging in terrorism. If the Palestinians become the only disenfranchised people to achieve statehood because they used terrorism, while other equally deserving groups are ignored because they eschew terrorism, then Arafat's way will become the way of the future.