Arafat Failed Because He Promised What Could Not Be Delivered

Summary

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IRRESPECTIVE of what happens next to Yasser Arafat, whether he survives the mystery illness that has put him in a coma in Paris hospital, his long reign is over. It is perhaps appropriate that he should seek medical seek in France, and that no obvious successor to lead the so-called Palestinian cause is in sight. After nearly half a century of his fanning the flames of the dream, Palestine remains just that, a dream. Not only is there no modern hospital on Palestinian soil, there are not even any schools, roads, homes or government buildings. There is not even a Palestinian site to bury the man who single-handedly ruled this mythical nation. Palestinian dreams and grievances were more important to Mr Arafat than Palestinian accomplishments and reality. His mission to put Palestine on the world stage, if nowhere else, became the overriding objective rather than part of the creative diplomacy that would have been required to have squeezed a state by that name in between Israel and Jordan, reclaiming ancient titles from each.

Indeed, he had the opportunity, but let it pour through his fingers, like desert sand. In 35 years of leading an entire people, scattered that they might have been, he squandered many chances of both peace with Israel and, more significantly -- in fact, the Holy Grail of Palestinian aspirations -- establishing internationally recognised borders for "his people". They weren't actually; he was born in Cairo, Egypt, not East Jerusalem, as he claimed. However, he was undoubtedly committed to some sort of Palestinian cause, or many. His best chance of creating a genuine Palestine state, brokered in 2000 by American president Bill Clinton after months of tortuous negotiations and concluded at a protracted Camp David retreat, was discarded because he knew the compromised and reduced package would not meet the elevated demands of the street. He knew this intimately because it was he who had spent a lifetime cranking up those aspirations to impossible levels.

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Arafat Failed Because He Promised What Could Not Be Delivered

He never wanted a comprehensive peace deal with Israel. ...

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