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Israelis Breathe a Huge Sigh of Relief

(Ha'aretz)Uzi Benziman - With Arafat's death, Israel has breathed a huge sigh of relief. Eight months after he signed the Oslo Accords, Arafat whispered in a Johannesburg mosque that the agreement was equivalent to the one between Mohammed and the Qureish at Hudbeiya that the Prophet broke two years later and is considered a paragon of Muslim cunning and tactics. Two months after he competed in courtesies with then prime minister Ehud Barak at the Camp David summit, Arafat gave his blessing to - if not the signal for - the outbreak of another fatal round, which has been going on for more than four years, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arafat gave the green light for the continuation of cruel terrorist acts while he was still conducting truce negotiations with Israel's leaders. Israel wished for Arafat's death not only because of the vast amount of its blood he has spilled and not only because of the terror he imposed on its streets, but because of the crushing of the belief in the ability to reach an agreement with the Palestinian people. A month after he received the Nobel Prize for Peace, the terror attack in Beit Lid occurred; Arafat blamed Israel for carrying it out. Israel has not forgiven him, and will not forgive him on the day of his death, for releasing the beast of terror and letting it sow killing and destruction in every corner of the country. It has not forgiven him for having broken his commitments, for having shattered its hopes, and for having brought down upon it rampages in the style and methods of a primitive tribal world. Arafat was, and remained until his dying day, the palpable threat to the Zionist project and the Jews' right to establish a sovereign life for themselves.
2004-11-12 00:00:00
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