[MichaelTotten.com] Khaled Abu Toameh - The idea of Oslo was not bad - separation between Jews and Palestinians who did not want to live together. But the way Oslo was implemented brought disaster on both Jews and Arabs. The assumption was that if you bring thousands of PLO fighters and you dump them into the West Bank and Gaza and you give them millions of dollars and guns, they will do the dirty job of policing the West Bank and Gaza. The result was that people who had never received any basic training, people who had never finished high school, became colonels and generals in Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Arafat turned out to be a crook. Most of the money literally went down the drain and supported the shopping sprees of Arafat's wife who was living in Paris. Instead of building us a hospital, Arafat built a casino in Jericho, across the street from a refugee camp. The fact that Arafat was crooked didn't surprise us Palestinians. We were only surprised by the fact that the international community kept giving him money and refused to hold him accountable when he stole our money. By depriving the people of money, Arafat radicalized the Palestinians who did not see the fruits of peace. In addition, the West gave Arafat guns so that he could kill Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but instead he directed those guns against anyone who said they wanted reform or democracy. Arafat used weapons provided by America to suppress the leaders of a new leadership. The West also gave Arafat money to open a TV and radio station, which say: "Jihad, jihad, kill the crusaders, kill the Jews, kill the infidels." Arab leaders always need to make sure that their people are busy hating somebody else, preferably the Jews and the Americans. Otherwise their people might rebel, and they might demand reforms and democracy. This incitement drove people into the open arms of Hamas. Arafat was telling people how evil the Jews are, and people then said: "Hamas is right, Jews are the sons of monkeys and pigs. Why should we make peace with them?"
2009-02-13 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive